“In American politics, being
European is bad again”, the great Helen Cooper writes in today's 'New York Times'. But I wonder when exactly being European was a good
thing here. And, above all, if Democrat and Republican politicians are not
right about their bashing.
In the past, it was the ridicule debate
on French fries and so on. But some of words said in this Presidential campaign
are not that far from the truth and touch some deeper issues. As a European, it does bother me when Mitt Romney gets a big applause every time he says “I don't believe in Europe”. But part of his
explanation is terribly real: the portrait of a pessimist society that rarely rewards
its members by merit. Romney has said that if Democrats follow Europeans,
“they'll substitute envy for ambition”.
The crisis was installed in Europe well
before we noticed it. Just take a look at the growth rates of the Eurozone. In the last decade, the GDP grew around 2%, below what it's considered in the US as a
disappointing result now. The year that the Eurozone grew more, in part
thanks to Spain, was 2006, but still 3.1%. And these are just the numbers.
Yes I believe in Europe. It's tempting to despair because of the mess we're in and to look to the US for salvation, but watch out. Make sure to not throw away the accomplishments in Europe in the past 50 years.
ReplyDeleteI live in Belgium, not in Spain, so I can only speak for my country, but from travelling, studying and working in Europe ánd in the US, I've seen the difference between the two with my own eyes, more specifically when it comes to inequality and it's negative effect on so many key aspects of life, namely :
- Community life and social relations
- Mental health and drug use
- Physical health and life expectancy
- Obesity
- Educational performance
- Teenage births
- Violence
- Imprisonment
- Social mobility
These are also the important aspects of life that Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett discuss in their book "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better". I suggest you read it before we capitulate to the neoliberal ideology that led to the inflated bubbles that are bursting right now, not only in Europe, but accross the world.
Mistakes were made in Europe, with the introduction of the Euro, huge mistakes, and politicans have lied to their voters for many years, but still, that doesn't mean we have to throw away our important accomplishments, we just need to fix them and that will take strong leaders, strong democracies and many years.