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While you’ll never see me give up on the United States (though certainly the current administration makes one want to), it’s interesting to compare it against how things work on other parts of the globe. Many things are compared against the European Union (EU) since it has such a long history and provided much of the basis of law and commerce for the world for so long. The standard line in America is that things are significantly better here than they are there - that the ‘bastion of socialism’ that is the EU is too old and too regimented to be a good place for people to live and/or work, especially when viewed through the lens of the supposedly pure capitalism that we enjoy here. (I’d like to stress that we’re not actually a purely capitalistic country - too much government interference.) Well, it’s beginning to seem that that’s less true. Read on for the reasons why.I went to Italy this year (the Lake Como region, north of Milan) for a week. It was beautiful - that area of Italy is gorgeous. The people were friendly, the pace of life not rushed at all, and the food and drinks were some of the best I’ve ever had. Things were more expensive, but only because the dollar has lost so much of its value - not because things were generally expensive. (In fact, many of the prices were comparably lower.) I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and I only spent six few days - half of which I spent working. (I also took a jaunt into Switzerland, since I was so close - also beautiful, and highly recommended.) It was quite interesting to see how things were done there in Europe, and to be able to contrast it with how things are done in the US. I realised that some things in the US could use some re-thinking.

The most notable difference was the work ethic. Europeans are often stereo-typed in this country as being lazy and inefficient. Let me tell you that is not true! They get as much (or more) done at work in less time than we as Americans do. They don’t spend time nattering on and on at the water cooler - they plan things out and get them done. They don’t endlessly (and often needlessly) replace broken things - they still believe in the concept of actually fixing things, in stark contrast to our economy where everything is disposable. (This was demonstrated to me when my surge strip was blown out due to a voltage spike - they called some one from the plant who came and fixed it!) Work was done in the morning, a leisurely (and tasty) lunch was had, and then work continued until the end of the day. No one took any work home, and Blackberries were worn only by the Americans. “Administrivia”, or “red-tape” was practically non-existent.

The job that I was doing required learning something about the EU privacy laws, which are much more strict than they are here - in favour of the people. Employers are not automatically granted access to an employee’s data on machines, even work machines. Care and effort must be taken to ensure that no employee’s personal information is compromised, regardless of where it is. That’s not like here - employers have access to anything you do on your work laptop, and can scan it any time. (There are arguments to be made for both approaches, admittedly, but I found the contrast interesting and prefer the EU method.)

The people that I met seemed genuinely happy. They weren’t happy-go-lucky-dancing-and-singing-in-the-streets happy, but content with life and its pace. No one rushed anywhere, and things started and ended on time. The standard of living that I saw was equal to the standard of living I see here, and people seemed to be doing a lot less to maintain it - enjoying more of their time and more of their money to be doing what they wanted, as opposed to working.

When I returned, Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko” added “fuel to the fire” that some things here in the US may need some serious thought, not the least of which is our disastrous health care system. Today, I came across this article in the Washington Post that furthers the argument - Europe with its “social capitalism” seems to be effective for its citizens and in taking care of its people, and the EU even has the largest GDP according to the International Monetary Fund.

Again, I’m not suggesting that we abandon America en masse and all return to Europe. Furthermore, I’m only basing this on two countries - I have yet to visit the UK with its “cameras on every corner” approach to things.

What I am suggesting is that in the effort to make America better, and to reclaim some of the liberties we’ve lost in this country, that we look at all models, and take what’s best from each one to make this country great. Looking to Europe for some of those examples would definitely serve us well.

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