Changing America to European Social Democracies
President Obama’s first budget is not just about “spreading the wealth around”. It is tailored to change the very character of the United States economy along the lines of European social democracies, a close relative of socialism. The problem facing Obama and his advisors is that the United States does not have a tradition of European social democracy, nor have American intellectuals ever shared the fascination of Western European intellectuals with socialist doctrines. To overcome the American tradition of self-responsibility and self-determination, the President is arguing that (1) the current crisis has proved that American capitalism of the years gone by does not work, and that (2) federalized education, socialized medicine and government controlled energy policy are a must for economic growth. Those statements are at best misleading. The President is not telling us which system has done better than American capitalism and on what evidence? Moreover, he also ignores a simple bit of evidence: The United States has created the economic machine never seen in human history without socialized medicine, federalized education and government controlled energy policy.