I see from various polls that very nearly all of you support President Obama’s reelection
Michael Ledeen writes in his
Letter to My European Friends (thanks to
Instapundit's Sarah Hoyt). (See also
Election Advice to the American People From France's Top Leaders.)
The numbers are remarkable, indeed incredible. More than ninety
percent of you would vote Obama (94% of Italians, for example, and the
numbers for Great Britain, France, Spain, and Germany are even higher).
Other numbers show that nearly half of you think you should somehow be
able to vote in our elections, since American policies have such an
enormous effect on you.
All of which reinforces my belief—speaking as the grandson of Russian
immigrants who arrived in Harlem and western Massachusetts early in the
last century–that the American Revolution was a great thing, and that
Americans were right to abandon authoritarian Europe for the possibility
of creating a free country across the ocean. Anyone who truly values
liberty has to see that Obama is a threat. He wants to turn the United
States into a version of Europe: big, meddlesome government, constantly
higher levels of taxation, and intrusive regulation of almost
everything, combined with a deliberate and systematic weakening of
military power and a foreign policy that shrinks from decisive action
against freedom’s enemies.
That’s you, sadly. So it’s understandable that you’d favor Obama
(although the numbers—reminiscent of plebiscites rather than normal
elections—are ridiculous). It’s yet another sign of the decadence of
Europe.
… The Europe I loved, and still love, is increasingly a theme park.
It’s fun to visit, but it’s no longer a source of creative inspiration.
Europeans seem to me to have abdicated their liberties to their
governments, provided that the governments provide them with an easy
life, replete with free medical care, plenty of vacations, and no
international obligations. Surely you know that very few of your tax
euros go towards your defense. We have been paying that bill for
decades, and our soldiers and military power have been protecting you.
So don’t be surprised—but you should be very concerned—that we are
increasingly looking across the Pacific. It’s no accident that the most
brilliant and talented Americans are increasingly Asians, not
Europeans.
We don’t want to follow your example. And your landslide support of
Obama—who has done terrible damage to America—confirms my pessimism
about your future.
Indeed, just as these poll results were published, I noticed another
headline, announcing record levels of European unemployment. The two
things go hand in hand. Only the energies of a free people can sustain
the creation of wealth, and the sort of state that you have created,
both on a national and continental level, stifles those energies. We,
too, are having a difficult time, due in part to our own blunders, and
in part because the Obama administration doesn’t seem to appreciate how
exceptional America is. You turn to your leaders to solve those
problems. Most of us—or so I hope—would prefer that the government get
out of our way and let us find the best remedies by ourselves.
We have a chance to do that, especially if we thumb our noses at your
bad advice, and send Obama to early retirement on the island of Oahu.
