This is a good article, even if it is somewhat antagonistic.

Cumming touched on how differently the world views us as compared to how we view ourselves, and I'm not sure most Americans really grasp how large the gap is.

I've lived in Europe (Germany) for several stretches, the most recent being 2005-2006. Experiencing the lifestyle and talking with the people there is all sorts of enlightening. A lot of Europeans think that America as a country is, for the most part, ass-backwards and out of date: no viable health care system, no public transportation, a broken education system, a system of government that doesn't work, lax environmental regulation, I could go on and on.

IMO, they're generally right, and most of western Europe doesn't have these problems. Unfortunately, any attempt to move toward the progressive European ideal is met by reflexive cries of Socialism, which, everybody knows, could never be anything other than a bunch of commie bullshiat that would destroy our country. The frustrating thing is, these ideas work, and even a little shift of our government in that direction would do so much good for this country.

In that sense, Cumming is right, people are content with mediocrity. Especially that core of the lower-income, Amurca loving, Arab-hating, flag-waving republicans who don't know or don't care how much they would benefit from exactly this kind of change.

Sorry for the rant, but this really gets on my nerves.

DeltaXi65

Nearly every major city in America has multiple modes of public transportation and most suburban areas do too

Right, key word major. Outside of major metropolises (chicago, NYC, DC, etc) the quality of public transportation is very poor. I understand that it's practically impossible to implement a European system in the US; US is sprawl, whereas "suburban" Europe is denser clusters of homes dotted around, almost like dozens of separate small villages (bad analogy, but you get it), so they're easier to link and public transportation is more viable. That notwithstanding, the US system does have the potential to be significantly improved.

America has some of the strictest environmental regulations on the planet

True, but for the most part, Europe's are stricter. Take for example auto emissions. Only California has standards approaching that of the EU's.

Our education system where we spend more per capita on students than nearly every single other country on the planet, and we educate more students than all of Europe does. Why do Europeans send their children here for college

Remember, quantity is not quality. Now, I only have experience with Germany's education system, so I won't generalize. Germany's system is rather confusing - kids get split off in groups based on aptitude and funneled into different channels. But, they do provide, tuition-free, at least three different levels of secondary education, the highest of which is college education up to their Diplom, which is equivalent to the US master's degree. They educate their brightest students based on aptitude, not who can afford college. Also, Europeans coming here for exchange is common, but for a full college education doesn't happen very often.

No one can claim that we don't have the highest quality health care in the world

For the rich, maybe we do. But US life expectancy is ranked behind almost all of Western Europe, and I can't find statistics now, but I have several times seen figures showing that the US pays more and receives less compared to these countries. Also, their state subsidized insurance allows everybody to receive preventative care, so people don't only go to the hospital when they are deathly ill and end up spending thousands.

Western Europe has their own problems, just like we do. Their tax rates are enormous. Their unemployment is far higher, they have lower per capita GDP, and slower economic growth overall.

Tigger addressed this nicely.

What drives me crazy is the idea that the Republicans who don't want to see the Europeanization of America are somehow stupid because they don't recognize they'd be better off.

I'm not saying all republicans. I'm saying many lower-income republicans don't realize that they are exactly the group that benefits the most from this kind of system.