Why America Must Not Follow Europe (Encounter Broadsides)

Interesting conservative critique of both the US and EU (especially British) political and social developments over the past 40 to 50 years or so. The problems (plural) are that the author cherry-picks data to suit his arguments, masks opinions as facts, and ignores data that contradicts his assertions. In some cases, there are flat-out errors of facts. For example (page 23) he asserts that the US Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") has a Federally administered "government option" alongside private health insurance. In fact, the government option was never enacted. His data on unemployment rates only extend to 2009 -- the year of the worst recession in the US since 1929. Also, he agglomerates unemployment rates for the entire EU and compares it to the US. But EU unemployment rates are distorted by the very high (20% +) rates in countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Today (2015) the unemployment rates in European countries such as Germany, Finland, Netherlands, and Norway are LOWER than the unemployment rate in the US. His critiques of the health care systems in Europe ignores issues such as the lower rates of infant mortality and higher median life spans in Europe compared to the US. There are undoubtedly many criticisms that can be made of the current European and American political, economic, and health care systems -- but this book doesn't do a very good job of it. The issues the author discusses are good, but his arguments are in many cases just plain poor. One final observation: given the large number of very positive reviews (4 and 5 star) that this book has received from other reviewers, I am pretty sure that my comments will not receive many "helpful" review responses..

The good news is this was a very fast read. The bad news is that this was a very fast read. Daniel Hannan is an Englishman who is also a MP (Member of Parliament) for the EU. As such, he has some very interesting perspectives and opinions on what is happening there as well as what he observes happening here in the US. He sees America following down the same path that much of Europe has already gone down with the resulting financial problems created along with more and more social programs. He wrote this book as a warning to the US to not go down that same path. I also learned a few little known but interesting facts about America. For example, I had always been told that Paul Revere road through towns shouting "The British are coming!" He rightly points out that that makes no sense because American colonists still considered themselves British citizens. What he actually said was "the regulars are out!" meaning the British regular army troops. The only negative thing for me was that the book was way too short.

This whole piece takes about an hour to read, and he gets into some of the topics that have been discussed at length in many other places.1. Quantitative dissection of why Europe is not really better off than the United States.  Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality 2. Some of the reasons that it appeared that Europe was doing better than the United States (they didn't have to pay for their own defense and they were starting from a low base after the destruction of WWII).3. The historical accidents for why the Europeans have reached the conclusion that a strong, centralized state is the best way (again, WWII) as opposed to the decentralization that is favored by Americans (at least up until this point).4. Discussion of how Europe is dying--as in, those countries are suffering from declines in fertility rates that no society has ever been able to recover from. This topic was taken up in two interesting places.  Statecraft , by Margaret Thatcher and  Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010  by Murray and Hernstein.5. Churches in Europe are empty because they are not voluntary.  Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity , by Francis Fukuyama takes up this topic.6. There are bits of Eric Hoffer. Hannan discusses how radicalization does not propagate itself through people who are looking for the next meal (since the finding of that meal *is* a triumph), but by people who are well-fed-- often by public welfare benefits.  The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classics) 7. There is discussion of some of Thomas Sowell's  The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy , and how public welfare benefits can actually disincentivize people to get up and get a job.Any one of these topics could have made for further reading. And any one of them are not things that you would not know if you didn't read the newspaper every day-- or some some of the above cited authors.The author has the actual experience of being an MP (and so he is not just some pundit that sits back and does nothing but write) with practical experience, and that gives him a lot of credibility. It's also very interesting that he is aware of and notes that a lot of English traditions (decentralization and common law) have actually been conserved in the United States longer than they have in England. (This type of thing happens all the time. The French language in Canada is actually more conservative than it is in France proper.)Verdict: Worth the time (1 hour) and worth the money ($5).

This is a wonderful little book by an a member of the European Parliament (MEP). He spells out with great skill why the Euro system is not working and why the U.S. system is/was superior (before Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security began hacking away at our Constitution). He also explains why many Europeans are deluded into thinking that they enjoy a moral superiority. A quote from the book, "...an entire political class has grown up [in Europe] believing not just in the economic superiority of Euro-corporatism but in its moral superiority." Another quote from the book, "The average European gives $80 to charity each year, the average American $300." Who is doing a better job supporting the poor??? Everyone knows governments are inept when it comes to managing social programs. Another point the author makes is that "patriotism is seen as outdated and discreditable. The EU is built on the proposition that national identities are arbitrary, transient, and ultimately dangerous." No wonder Europe is so messed up... This booklet is highly recommended.

Good sense well written easy read though a bit repetitive.

Smashing. Possibly biased as a eurosceptic, classical liberal myself but on a neutral perspective he makes some valid points in this book that anyone, regardless of political affiliation can take into account.

Excellent short case for classical liberal economic in Europe and America, even relevant today as it was 5 years ago.

This work was short, too the point and held my attention well. I can see why the author was the most watched British Politician on You Tube.