Are We Europeans Now?

Following President Obama’s reelection last Tuesday, the No. 1 question I’ve been asked by family, friends, colleagues, and even a few philosophical sparring partners is whether America is now nothing more than just another (albeit rather larger) Western European country slouching down the road to economic turpitude while basking in a government-subsidized, debt-fuelled twilight of faded glories.

My short answer to such queries is: “No — at least not yet. And it is not too late to change course.” Let me explain.
Yes, the president’s reelection is reflective of enormous and disturbing cultural and economic trends in America. Millions of Americans do, for instance, seem committed to the expansion of government, either because they have intellectually rejected the free-enterprise system or, to be frank, because they personally benefit from interventionist arrangements. Why, for example, bother going through the hard work of turning around a company (which might involve telling unions that we’re not living in 1974 anymore) in order to compete in the global market, when you can get piles of taxpayer money to produce cars that no one apparently wants to buy? Incentives matter, including the perverse ones.

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/333200/are-we-all-europeans-now-samuel-gregg