Europeans and Americans

Simon Kuper, writing in the UK publication Financial Times, had an article a couple of months ago with the title “Why the US is becoming more European”…a rather smug article, in my view.  He asserts that for decades, influential Americans looking at other countries used to ask “When will they become more like us?”…and argues that this has not happened, is not going to happen, and that, on the contrary, the US is becoming more like other countries…”Much of American society is Europeanizing”…and he seems to feel that this is pretty much an unalloyed good thing.  The article reminded me, though, of a passage from an old science fiction story by Poul Anderson.  Published in 1953, it is perhaps the first story to focus on the use of computer technology for surveillance of citizens.  Here’s the passage that came to mind on reading Kuper’s article:

The intellectuals had been fretful about the Americanization of Europe, the crumbling of old culture before the mechanized barbarism of soft drinks, hard sells, enormous chrome-plated automobiles (dollar grins, the Danes had called them), chewing gum, plastics…None of them had protested the simultaneous Europeanization of America: bloated government, unlimited armament, official nosiness, censors, secret police, chauvinism…

(I reviewed and excerpted Anderson’s story, which is very interesting, several years ago:  Prefiguring the Hacker…and the American Surveillance Society.)  Simon Kuper, in his FT article, doesn’t raise any concerns about potential loss of American liberties..individual autonomy, freedom of expression…as a result of the projected Europeanization.  Topics he does focus on are: falling population growth rates..more abandonment of religion..falling American tendency toward violence (both lower violent crime levels and less support for military actions)…moving less frequently…less interest/dependence on automobiles…and what he says is a generalized disillusion with American exceptionalism.  “If you’re the only person driving down the motorway into oncoming traffic, you can either assume that you are exceptional and everyone else is wrong, or you can eventually conclude that you need to change.”  (Can you see why I referred to Kuper’s article as smug?)  He does admit that “some people argue that a more European US would be cease to be innovative” and admits that there may be something in that, but then goes on the assert that “the US in its previous social-democratic phase from about 1933 to 1980 remained innovative: it became the world’s first motorized society, built the atomic bomb, and landed men on the Moon”…and says “It’s doubtful whether more recent American innovations such as Facebook and Amazon increase the sum of human happiness.” America’s future, as he sees it, is to become a European-style ‘social democracy’.

The author thinks that American demographics imply that the Europeanization is rather inevitable…that “the Republican solution is to pass state laws aimed to disenfranchise Democratic voters.  The US of the future can have a Trumpist Republican rule or it can have a democracy, but it probably can’t have both.”  (He does not compare proposed Republican procedures for election management with those procedures in current use in Europe and other places, nor does he address the question of just how meaningful the word ‘democracy’ is when political communication and discussion is largely controlled by monopolistic and often-government-linked entities)

Kuper does make the valid point that the US has become more like Europe in some ways…and I’d also note the some influential American voices would also like us to become more like China.  But there is plenty wrong with his analysis.  Population growth, for example: while the US fertility rate is lower than it has been historically, it is still (IIRC) higher than any Western European country with the exception of France.  And immigration has been limited more by admission constraints than by demand: Kuper might want to check out what’s been happening over the few months since his article appeared.

The silliest thing in the article is this: “If you’re the only person driving down the motorway into oncoming traffic, you can either assume that you are exceptional and everyone else is wrong, or you can eventually conclude that you need to change”…here we have the true voice of Groupthink.  Traffic driving on the left or on the right is purely arbitrary and it really doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent: evolution of national cultures, political structures, and economic strategies is something else entirely.

(An earlier version of this piece was posted at Ricochet about a week ago.)

14 thoughts on “Europeans and Americans”

  1. Ooh, can I say “The USA is a republic, not a democracy” first to get it out of the way?

    Various “progressive” “reforms” destroyed the US constitutional republic form of government, and gave all the political power to places that want a big government nanny state, i.e., a European system. The problem, of course, is that that system is completely non-sustainable. Even before covid, it was showing strains, now it’s coming apart completely.

  2. It was a recently as 2006 — a mere 15 years ago — that Mark Steyn could publish his book “America Alone” with at least an element of hope. From the blurb:
    “Europe, laments Steyn, is almost certainly a goner. [Due to multi-culturism, excessive Muslim immigration, enervating expanding welfare state, childlessness]. The future, if the West has one, belongs to America alone — maybe with its cousins in brave Australia”

    Of course, that was then, and this is now. Yes, America is indeed becoming more like Europe, swirling around in the same toilet bowl. Europeans like Simon Kuper are probably quite happy to see Europe collapse, as long as they see America sliding close behind them. They never really got past having to be rescued in WWII by those damn Yanks — Overpaid, Over-sexed, and Over Here.

  3. Tatyana — Color me jealous. :) I hope it was a great party.

    I got a personally autographed copy of “Passing Parade” as an early joiner to the Mark Steyn Club. But that was socially distanced by several thousand miles. I have never met the man face to face. Or maybe I should say — I have not yet met the man face to face. Hope springs eternal!

  4. I would suggest that the blue section of America is becoming more like Europe. We are pulling apart and I hope it will speed up a bit.

    I met Mark Steyn on a National Review cruise in 2008. He is quite tall. Personable. Victor Davis Hanson was also there and is quite aloof. Not personable at all.

  5. Gavin: in person, Mark is surprisingly tall and broad-shouldered. Wears his suit like a londoner (i.e.: perfect).
    Well, my info is more than 10yrs old.

  6. “If you’re the only person driving down the motorway into oncoming traffic, you can either assume that you are exceptional and everyone else is wrong, or you can eventually conclude that you need to change”

    In early 1941, allied socialist powers ruled Europe from the Pyrenees to the Pacific. Fortunately, the USA drove against traffic, even if only barely, and against the strong pressure of many who would have had the USA adopt either national or international socialism. That anyone still wants to adopt EUropean ways continues to mystify me.

  7. @Brian

    I don’t know about Steyn but NR published a VDH opinion piece as recently as April 2021. They did switch to buying his syndicated columns at some point rather than getting bespoke content as the copyright on the most recent article is from The Center for American Greatness. He’s also branched out into publishing on his own website (Victor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers at victorhanson.com) in addition to his other work.

  8. “Do Americans want to be more like Europeans?” Yes, a lot of them want to be what they THINK Europeans are like. A cocky young history faculty member taped a cartoon to his office door– an American father with his arm on his son’s shoulder admiring a view of Paris from a high place, and telling him, “Can you believe some Americans think socialism is bad?” (OWTTE.)

    As if whatever is great about Paris or France (and there’s a LOT) is due to “socialism.”

    The other big example of course is Sweden, which so many Americans think is a sort of socialist country, love it or hate it. Sweden can only afford the safety-net because they realized they had to be ruthlessly competitive and capitalistic. Whether that’s sustainable after the Migrations is another matter.

    Another question may be more important though–do EUROPEANS want to be European any more?

    The Grand Alliance that defeated the Nazis and Japanese was a great example of international cooperation. Brits–drive on the left. Yanks–drive on the right. Russians–what’s a road?

    Cousin Eddie

  9. “A cocky young history faculty member taped a cartoon to his office door– an American father with his arm on his son’s shoulder admiring a view of Paris from a high place, and telling him, “Can you believe some Americans think socialism is bad?””

    One could do a version of this cartoon with the same image and the legend: ““Can you believe some Americans think nuclear power is bad?”

    Probably wouldn’t work, though….what % of Progs are even aware of how much of its electricity France gets from nuclear?

  10. David Foster–bingo. The lefty infatuations are extremely narrow and partial, of course.

    The plains of Saxony are stalked by wind turbines, while Green Germany buys some of its juice from the French.

    Cousin Eddie

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