America the Un-Europe

America the Un-Europe - David C. Stolinsky
Aug. 1, 2011

My family came to America not only to live in America but also to get away from Europe. The same was true for millions of other families. Who decides to leave the homeland of his ancestors, probably never to return? Someone who is rich and successful? Someone who owns property and has servants? Someone who enjoys the benefits of a good education? Someone who is satisfied with the way things are?

No, one who decides to uproot himself and his family must overcome the fear of traveling to a distant land, where he will have to learn a new language and new customs. He must discard the past and trust in the future. Why would someone do that?

Immigrants wanted to escape persecution for having the “wrong” religion, or being from the “wrong” ethnic group. They did not “fit in.” They did not want to be forced to follow their fathers’ trades. They did not “get along” in the class system. They did not “take orders well” or “know their place.” To the contrary, they wanted to go to a country where, in Lincoln’s words, people were less interested in who their grandfathers were than in who they were.

They wanted the freedom to practice their religion, or not practice it, or convert to another religion − and so long as they were good neighbors and hard workers, few would notice, much less persecute them. They wanted the freedom to own land or to start a business without some official’s permission.

A nation of self-selected individualists doesn’t stratify itself into rigid social or educational classes. We try to see people as individuals, not as representatives of a social class or ethnic group. Or at least we did, until “progressives” told us to see people like Europeans do, as members of groups. How is going backward “progressive”?

We use accents to tell from which part of the country one comes, not whether one is a member of the “in” group. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush needed no speech coaches to become president. In contrast, though she graduated from Oxford, Margaret Thatcher had to hire a speech coach to rid her of her “working-class accent” before she could be taken seriously − and become prime minister of Great Britain.

What we consider irrelevant is believed by Europeans to be important − accent, religion, social “class,” and ethnic background. We do not dwell on history, even our own. We are less interested in where we have been than in where we are going.

Europeans spend much of their time looking backward. Perhaps that is why they so often fall into holes. In the past century they fell into some really deep ones − Nazism, fascism, and communism. In so doing, they hurt themselves and the whole world.

How many tens of millions were slaughtered by these “isms”? How much misery have they produced − and still produce? How many future despots studied in Europe, or at least got their ideas from there? Recall Ayatollah Khomeini, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, and Chairman Mao.

The destructive influence of Europe continues to this day. Jew-haters in the Middle East print Arabic translations of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” an anti-Semitic forgery by the Russian czar’s secret police.

Even the “religious” fanatic Bin Laden may have been an example. True, he exhorted his followers to mass murder of “infidels.” But if you get past that, you find a hatred of capitalism and Western culture that would make a communist or a radical environmentalist proud.

Question: What do you get if you take Middle Eastern religious fanaticism, then add Nazi hatred of Jews, communist hatred of business people, and European contempt for America? That is, what do you get if you take a religious zealot and add a dash of Hitler, a pinch of Stalin, and a spoonful of European “intellectual?”

Answer: Bin Laden and those like him.

I appreciate beautiful cathedrals, even if they are almost empty of worshipers. I enjoy great art and music, even if almost all of it was created centuries ago. I love European history, even if it is filled with ethnic and religious strife, because that is where Europe’s greatness lies.

But the glory has departed.

● What remains is a place almost devoid of religion but still filled with bigotry. What remains is an area almost empty of Jews but still filled with anti-Semitism.

If you doubt this, consider the remarks of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel. He condemned the recent terrorist attack in his own country, but he justified terrorism against Israel. Yes, murdering young Norwegians on a holiday island is a terrible crime, but murdering young Israelis in pizzerias and nightclubs is justified. This is chauvinism mixed with anti-Semitism − two traditional European pastimes.

● What remains is a place rich in museums and concert halls, but from which little art or music now originates. What remains are people who look down their noses at American culture, but whose current art and music are often poor imitations of it.

● What remains are people who, unlike those who left for the New World, dwell in the past and are fainthearted about the future − so much so that they aren’t reproducing themselves.

● What remains are moral relativism, cowardice, and apathy − cloaked in the mantle of nonviolence.

● What remains is “tolerance” − tolerance of “Sharia-controlled zones,” polygamy, female genital mutilation, and “honor” killings of women − that is, tolerance of the intolerable.

● What remains are people who are proud of their history, but who ignore the ugly parts of it. (“Centuries of anti-Semitism? Pogroms? The Holocaust? No problem. The Israelis are occupying the West Bank, so now we’re even.”)

● What remains are history books filled with stories of brave soldiers who defeated powerful tyrants, but cities filled with cowards who dare not confront two-bit dictators today. (“What, our oil may be cut off? Quick! Kiss the Saudis’ behinds, and if necessary, their camels’ behinds.”)

● What remains are people who talk endlessly of “pride” and “honor,” but who think only of profit. (“Iranians are building nuclear weapons? Nonsense! We do business with them.”)

● What remains are cemeteries filled with American soldiers who died to rescue Europe twice, but people who thoughtlessly condemn America for being too “militaristic.” (“Gratitude? We don’t need no stinkin’ gratitude!”)

● What remains are people who spend so much on the welfare state that they have too little left for defense. Britannia used to rule the waves; now the Brits can’t protect their own sailors. The Norwegian underground fought bravely against the Nazis; now cops are unarmed and took over an hour to stop a mass murderer eager to be taken alive, while a news helicopter watched helplessly and a police helicopter was unavailable. (“I want my 35 days paid vacation − who needs an army?”)

● What remains are people so addicted to government programs for the young, the old, and the needy that they give little to charity and volunteer little time themselves. (“I’m going on vacation; let the government take care of grandma.”)

● What remains are people so addicted to government handouts that they riot in the streets when cutbacks are proposed to avoid bankruptcy. (“What do you mean, there’s no money? Print some more − I’m entitled!”)

When “intellectuals” moan that we are going against what the Europeans advise, we should be reassured that we are doing the right thing.

When foreign-policy “experts” warn that we may have to go it alone, we should be grateful that we are not following in the footsteps of those who started two catastrophic world wars with their folly.

When universities are filled with people who condemn our country, we should be proud that those who most resemble Europeans are against us.

And when “progressives” insist that the European way is best, we should reply: Why should we emulate people who are committing demographic, cultural, economic, and military suicide? Why should we copy what doesn’t work? The world doesn’t need another bankrupt welfare state filled with disgruntled ingrates. It has too many already. The world needs an America. It has only one.

Dr. Stolinsky writes on political and social issues. Contact: dstol@prodigy.net.