European Sophistication

Today is apparently "Europe Day." Who knew? What does it all mean?

Mark Steyn believes that the political, cultural, and economic situation in Europe is not optimal. He opines:

To those on the American left who find Europe more “sophisticated”, you’re right: it’s sophisticated in the sense that a belle époque Parisian boulevardier is sophisticated – outwardly dapper and worldly, inwardly eaten away by syphilis and gonorrhea. It’s only a question of how many others the clapped-out bon vivant infects before his final collapse.

He explains:

The Europeans are not cockroaches. The cockroach is the one creature you can rely on to come crawling out of the rubble of the nuclear holocaust. Whereas the one thing that can be said with absolute confidence is that the Europeans will not emerge from under their own rubble.

He observes:

Europe is dying, demographically and economically. Take the onetime economic powerhouse of the Continent – Germany – and pick any of the usual indicators of a healthy advanced industrial democracy: Unemployment? The highest since the 1930s. House prices? Down. New car registration? Nearly 15 per cent lower in 2005 than in 1999. General nuttiness? A third of Germans under 30 think the United States government was responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

He becomes positively angry when he speculates:

It may be the defects of America’s Founders that help explain why for the US has lagged so far behind France in technological innovation, economic growth, military performance, standard of living, etc. Certainly, many Europeans agree that the US system of government is fundamentally flawed. Questioning George W Bush’s legitimacy because Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000, the then Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin, said he hoped Americans would “draw the lessons in time for the next election”.

What lessons would those be, M Jospin? Scrap the Electoral College? Move to a system of direct presidential election? Tear up the Constitution and rewrite it every generation, as the French do? Where are you up to now? Fifth Republic? Sixth Republic? Geez, get me an Al Gore lawyer: I need a manual recount of French constitutions.

Read his entire collection of thoughts HERE, and enjoy a happy and healthy Europe Day.