All too often I hear laments from left-leaning friends along the lines of, "if only we were more like Europe, we wouldn't be run by the backwards savages we know to live between the coasts."
It drives me crazy when European commentators and leaders take such sentiments for gospel. There is an implicit assumption in this talk that they have some special understanding of American culture because they watch us on TV, or that they have absolute moral authority over us because of the superiority of their social safety net.
Take this quote today from French President Sarkozy welcoming us to the "club of states which do not let sick people down."
Sarkozy was also sure to remind his American audience that:
"The idea that we have such a violent debate so that the poor are not left on the streets without a cent when they are sick ... Excuse me, but we've solved this problem more than 50 years ago (in France)."
Standard protocol would call for Mr. Sarkozy to congratulate us on what was a difficult achievement and be done with it. Instead, he opted for a pollyannish teachable moment, choosing to belittle something many of us fought hard for. Such statements are the diplomatic equivalent of calling someone who's ugly "ugly" in front of all their friends and then saying, "hey, I'm just being honest." It may be accurate, but it makes you into a jerk. Would Sarkozy have spoken this way to an Asian or an African audience?
Look, a lot of good things have come from Europe. Art, food, culture, the fundamental underpinnings of democracy. I like a lot of things about life there, and wouldn't mind if some of those ideas came to be on this side of the pond. But we're not Europeans, nor should Europeans expect us, or anyone else in the world to be.
Someone should remind Mr. Sarkozy that we're allies. We buy a lot of cheese and wine from him and if it weren't for us, Mr. Sarkozy would either be speaking German, or dead for having a Jewish grandparent. Hackneyed and jingoistic as those reasons may be, they make a good case for showing a bit more deference towards an ally in the afterglow of a major domestic achievement.
I have been lectured by Europeans on many occasions about our social inequalities. Many are the times I've been told of the shock and amazement at the homelessness, poverty and sickness, and in such a rich country. But it's far more often that I've witnessed these deficiencies first-hand. It's a daily occurrence and has been for most of my life, one for which I will offer no excuse. I just don't understand why they think they have license to bring it up in any circumstance.
But just look at Europeans' general approach to the rest of the world from the 16th through the 20th centuries. It is a long story of colonization at best, and gross expropriation of human and natural resources at worst. Now that they do nothing but vote in the UN and send a few troops to Afghanistan, they seem ready to put their past behind them in favor of the banal negligence of EU foreign policy.
We have our problems, but Mr. Sarkozy could stand a moment of self-reflection before making observations of others. Consider how intimidated and appeasing the European journalistic and intellectual classes are towards Islamic fundamentalists. Consider the ghettos outside of Paris, teeming with unemployed and radicalized immigrants, or the difficulties a third-generation German of Turkish descent has when trying to become a citizen. Consider the unAmerican-ness of the French ban on headscarves in public places. Consider Europeans' easy willingness to ban speech for the sake of some allegedly universal propriety. We have different problems, and different values.
And despite this, the 21st century European view towards the rest of the world has ascended from that of a zookeeper to a zoologist. Congratulations on the Ph.D. Now shut up.
There is a larger point in play here. When I hear progressive voices cheering this sort of talk on, all I can think of is the degree that they have internalized the belief that we're just plain inferior to Europeans.
We're American. We still use Fahrenheit. Maybe it's not the most rational or parsimonious way to do things, but it's our way, and any changes should be done our way as well. That is, kicking and screaming and all too slowly.
The bottom line is this: Americans who care about our inequalities should fight the moral battle tooth and nail to improve the lot of our fellow citizens. They should work just as hard to convince those who don't care about inequality that doing something about it is the right thing to do. But they should not countenance for one second this sort of talk from Europe or anyone else. They should not be made to think that America will be better off if it were more like Europe. America will be better off if it were more like America.
America will be better off when we are more like the America that we all hold in our hearts and minds. That's the America that the rest of the world wishes we were, the one that causes people from around the world to go to desperate measures to become a part of.
Our vision as progressives must come from our own uniquely American beliefs or it will never take root. We can't just borrow policy ideas from others and expect them to be plug-and-play. We can't wish our moral culture to somehow become amenable that of Europe's. We have different values and must respond to our problems within the structure we're given, not the one we wish we had.
Finding evidence for or against something is the easy part. The thinking that changes people is around the values supporting that evidence. Are they progressive or conservative? Problem-oriented or vision-oriented?
I would wager that most people would rather fight for a more perfect union than be called backwards rednecks who need to get better. It's hardly a secret that pride in our country is the emotional operating system of the culture wars, and that the culture wars are really about who has the moral authority in this country. There was a time when people were ashamed to protest against interventions to help the poor and sick. What happened?
As far as the voting public is concerned, when progressives ceded their pride for America, they also ceded the right to judge what's right and wrong.
No one should expect people to buy into a national code of ethics when all they have to offer are rational, parsimonious solutions without a hint of vision or a modicum of patriotism. Modern American progressivism will never get anywhere if their message is always related to the endless resolution of problems. People get behind inspiration, not rational arguments. You have to work towards something, not just away from something else.
If we are to win as progressives, we must work to shape America's moral culture on American terms, neither ceding morality to religious fundamentalists, nor transplanting it from outsiders who are somehow supposed to know better. These are our battles, not Mr. Sarkozy's.
Progressive ascendancy will happen when progressive thinkers know not only when to take criticism but also when to take offense.
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