Dallas Morning News: Europe's secret - by Patrick J. Deneen
Europe's secret - by Patrick J. Deneen
According to the progressive left-wing view, Europe is the ultimate "blue state." Progressive in its taxation, generous in its health policies, loose in governing marriage and euthanasia, it is praised as a nirvana of easygoing libertarianism. According to the right-wing narrative, Europe is in the throes of cultural suicide, a statist nightmare with its churches abandoned and cradles empty, incapable of dealing with the threat of eventual Islamic domination given dwindling birth rates.
In America, it is our liberals who praise the liberties of Europe while overlooking the conservative impulse of its self-restraint. Meanwhile, our conservatives condemn the statism of Europe without understanding that efforts to conserve – to be conservative – require the active support and laws of government in order to combat the tendencies of markets to produce waste and undermine thrift.
Americans of both the left and right have lost the ability to perceive a form of liberty that is achieved through restraint. Both see something in Europe to praise or to blame, but both fundamentally overlook a Europe that may present a challenge to their presuppositions. Both ignore – perhaps at their peril – another and truer alternative for America to consider.
