The American Difference
Per his usual habits, Mark Steyn makes a significant observation that has gone largely unremarked:
… I’ve been saying for months that the difference between America and Europe is that, when the global economy nosedived, everywhere from Iceland to Bulgaria mobs took to the streets and besieged Parliament demanding to know why government didn’t do more for them. This is the only country in the developed world where a mass movement took to the streets to say we can do just fine if you control-freak statists would just stay the hell out of our lives, and our pockets. You can shove your non-stimulating stimulus, your jobless jobs bill, and your multi-trillion-dollar porkathons. This isn’t karaoke. These guys are singing “I’ll do it my way” for real.
In the interest of beginning Sunday on a positive note, I won’t quote the subsequent paragraph.
The difference in mindset really is amazing. It’s that American mindset, i.e. government needs to stay out of our lives and let us seek our own path, that made America the greatest stage for transforming ingenuity and the most powerful economic engine this world has ever seen. And to think Bill Gates and Paul Allen chose to drop out of college and start a business…….
Sadly with the passing of each generation we’re losing our “American mindset” and that will be our death knell.