[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [GreenAllianceUSA] European Dream vs American Dream

[Paul Etxeberri]

>
>The following was taken from Utne Reader
>September / October 2004 Issue
>
>http://www.utne.com/pub/2004_125/promo/11349-1.html
>
>
>The European Dream
>
>by Jeremy Rifkin
>
>The new Europe has its own cultural vision -- and it may be better
>than ours
>
>
>The set of beliefs we call the American Dream underlies one of
>history's great success stories, an unbroken cultural ascent lasting
>more than 200 years. But how well are we doing today? In this
>selection from his provocative new book, social thinker Jeremy Rifkin
>argues that the American Dream has turned into a liability that has us
>clinging to an outmoded past. Meanwhile, a different vision of life
>that's now emerg-ing from Europe could be the world's best hope for
>negotiating its shared global future. -- The Editors
>
>What really separates America from all earlier political experiments
>is the unbounded hope and enthusiasm, the optimism that is so thick at
>times it can bowl you over. This is a land dedicated to possibilities,
>a place where constant improvement is the only meaningful compass and
>economic progress is regarded to be as certain as the rising sun. We
>are a people who threw off the yoke of tyranny and vowed never to be
>ruled by arbitrary elites of any kind. We eschew class distinctions
>and the hereditary transmission of status, embrace the democratic
>spirit, and believe that everyone should be judged solely on merit.
>
>Americans have long been aware of our special circumstance. We think
>of America as a refuge for every human being who has ever dreamed of a
>better life and been willing to risk his or her own to come here and
>start over.
>
>That's why it saddens me to say that America is no longer a great
>country. Yes, it's still the most powerful economy in the world, with
>a military presence unmatched in all of history. But to be a great
>country, it is necessary to be a good country. It is true that people
>everywhere enjoy American cultural forms and consumer goods. America
>is even envied, but it is no longer admired as it once was. The
>American Dream, once so coveted, has increasingly become an object of
>derision. Our way of life no longer inspires; rather, it is now looked
>on as outmoded and, worse yet, as something to fear, or abhor.
>
>Stripped to its bare essentials, the American Dream offers everyone a
>fair shot at prosperity if they're willing to work hard and cultivate
>self-reliance. But fulfillment of the dream is becoming more elusive.
>For Americans who have made every effort to succeed, only to be pulled
>down over and over again by a market economy and a society weighted
>against them, the dream can feel like a cruel hoax, a myth without
>substance. There may still be opportunity for both the native-born and
>newcomers, but the unfettered upward mobility that defined American
>life up until the early 1970s no longer exists. As the gap between
>rich and poor has widened, the sons and daughters of wealthier
>Americans have come to feel entitled to happiness and are less willing
>to work hard and make something of themselves. On all social levels,
>the dream is losing its cachet, casting many of its former believers
>adrift. One-third of all Americans say they no longer even believe in
>the American Dream.
>
>While the American spirit languishes in the past, a compelling new
>dream is coming of age, driven by the rise of the world's other great
>superpower, the European Union (EU). Twenty-five nations, representing
>455 million people, have joined together to create a "United States"
>of Europe. Like the United States of America, this vast cultural
>entity has its own founding documents and hopes for the future. It
>also has its own empowering myth. Although it is still in its
>adolescence, the European Dream is the first transnational vision, one
>far better suited to the next stage in the human journey. Europeans
>are beginning to adopt a new global consciousness that extends beyond,
>and below, the borders of their nation-states, deeply embedding them
>in an increasingly interconnected world.
>
>
>Comparing Quality of Life
>
>
>Americans are so used to thinking of our country as the most
>successful on earth, they might be surprised to learn that, by many
>measures, this is no longer the case. In just a few decades, the
>European Union has grown to become the third-largest governing
>institution in the world. Though its landmass is half the size of the
>continental United States, its $10.5 trillion gross domestic product
>now eclipses the U.S. GDP, making it the world's largest economy. The
>European Union is already the world's leading exporter and largest
>internal trading market. Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the
>Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S.
>companies.
>
>The comparisons between the world's two great superpowers are even
>more revealing when it comes to the quality of life. For example, in
>the European Union, there are approximately 322 physicians per 100,000
>people, whereas in the United States there are only 279. The United
>States ranks 26th among the industrial nations in infant mortality,
>well below the EU average. The average life span in the 15 most
>developed EU countries is now 78.01 years, compared to 76.9 years in
>the United States.
>
>Children in 12 European nations now rank higher in mathematics
>literacy than their American peers, and in 8 European countries
>children outscore Americans in scientific literacy. When it comes to
>wealth distribution -- a crucial measure of a country's ability to
>deliver on the promise of prosperity -- the United States ranks 24th
>among the industrial nations. All 18 of the most developed European
>countries have less income inequality between rich and poor. There are
>now more poor people living in America than in the 16 European nations
>for which data are available. America is also a more dangerous place
>to live. The U.S. homicide rate is four times higher than the European
>Union's. Even more disturbing, the rates of childhood homicides,
>suicides, and firearm-related deaths in the United States exceed those
>of the other 25 wealthiest nations, including the 14 wealthiest
>European countries. Although the United States is only 4 percent of
>the world's population, it now contains one-quarter of the world's
>entire prison population. While the EU member states average 87
>prisoners per 100,000 people, the U.S. averages an incredible 685
>prisoners per 100,000 people.
>
>Europeans often remark that Americans "live to work," while Europeans
>"work to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six
>weeks a year. By contrast, Americans, on average, receive only two
>weeks. Most Americans would also be shocked to learn that the average
>commute to work in Europe is less than 19 minutes. When one considers
>what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life,
>Europe is beginning to surpass America.
>
>
>Two Dreams, One Past
>
>
>Though historians seldom allude to it, the American Dream is largely a
>European creation transported to American soil and frozen in time. The
>American Dream was born in the early modern era -- a period that saw
>the flowering of the individual, the development of a sophisticated
>private property regime, the invention of market capitalism, and the
>creation of the nation-state. The Protestant Reformation and the
>Enlightenment idea of science as the relentless pursuit and
>exploitation of nature's secrets had begun to take hold in Europe.
>While much of Europe eventually tempered its religious fervor, its
>scientific zeal, and its enthusiasm for unbridled market capitalism,
>preferring a compromise in the form of democratic socialism, America
>did not. Instead, successive generations chose to live out those older
>traditions in their purest forms, making us the most devoutly
>Protestant people on Earth and the most committed to scientific
>pursuits, private property, capitalism, and the nation-state.
>
>That difference is reflected in the American and European Dreams,
>which at their core are about two diametrically opposed ideas about
>freedom and security. For Americans, freedom has long been associated
>with autonomy. An autonomous person is not dependent on others or
>vulnerable to circumstances beyond his or her control. To be
>autonomous one needs to be propertied. The more wealth one amasses,
>the more independent one is in the world. One is free by becoming
>self-reliant and an island unto oneself. With wealth comes
>exclusivity, and with exclusivity comes security.
>
>The new European Dream is based on different assumptions about what
>constitutes freedom and security. For Europeans, freedom is found not
>in autonomy but in embeddedness. To be free is to have access to many
>interdependent relationships. The more communities one has access to,
>the more options one has for living a full and meaningful life. It is
>inclusivity that brings security -- belonging, not belongings.
>
>The American Dream emphasizes economic growth, personal wealth, and
>independence. The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable
>development, quality of life, and interdependence. The American Dream
>pays homage to the work ethic. The European Dream is more attuned to
>leisure and "deep play." The American Dream is inseparable from the
>country's religious heritage and deep spiritual faith. The European
>Dream is secular to the core. The American Dream depends on
>assimilation: We associate success with shedding our former ethnic
>ties and becoming free agents in the great American melting pot. The
>European Dream, by contrast, is based on preserving one's cultural
>identity and living in a multicultural world. The American Dream is
>wedded to love of country and patriotism. The European Dream is more
>cosmopolitan and less territorial.
>
>Americans are more willing to employ military force to protect what we
>perceive to be our vital self-interests. Europeans are more reluctant
>to use military force and instead favor diplomacy, economic
>assistance, and aid to avert conflict and favor peacekeeping
>operations to maintain order. Americans tend to think locally while
>Europeans' loyalties are more divided and stretch from the local to
>the global. The American Dream is deeply personal and little concerned
>with the rest of humanity. The European Dream is more expansive and
>systemic, and therefore more bound to the welfare of the planet.
>
>That isn't to say that Europe has suddenly become a utopia. For all of
>its talk about preserving cultural identity, Europeans have become
>increasingly hostile toward newly arrived immigrants and asylum
>seekers. Ethnic strife and religious intolerance continue to flare up
>in pockets across Europe. Anti-Semitism is on the rise again, as is
>discrimination against Muslims and other religious minorities. While
>Europe's people and countries berate American military hegemony and
>what they regard as a trigger-happy foreign policy, they are more than
>willing, on occasion, to let the U.S. armed forces safeguard European
>security interests. Meanwhile, both supporters and critics say that
>the European Union's governing machinery, based in Brussels, is a maze
>of bureaucratic red tape. Its officials are often accused of being
>aloof and unresponsive to the needs of the European citizens they
>supposedly serve.
>
>The point, however, is not whether the Europeans are living up to
>their dream. We Americans have never fully lived up to ours. Rather,
>what's important is that Europe has articulated a new vision for the
>future that differs from our own in fundamental ways. These basic
>differences are crucial to understanding the dynamic that has begun to
>unfold between the early 21st century's two great superpowers.
>
>
>Forging a Union
>
>
>Unlike past states and empires whose origins are embedded in the myth
>of heroic victories on the battle-field, the European Union is novel
>in being the first mega governing institution in history to be born
>out of the ashes of defeat. Rather than commemorate a noble past, it
>sought to ensure that the past would never again be repeated. After a
>thousand years of unremitting conflict, war, and bloodshed, the
>nations of Europe emerged from two world wars with their population
>maimed and killed, their ancient monuments and cities lying in ruins,
>their worldly treasures depleted, and their way of life destroyed.
>Determined that they would never again take up arms against each
>other, the nations searched for a political mechanism that could move
>them beyond their ancient rivalries.
>
>In a series of treaties following World War II, Europe's political
>elites began the painstaking process of creating a united Europe, all
>the while attempting to define the limits of power of the emerging
>European Community. The federalists argued for ceding more power to
>the European central authority. The confederalists, by contrast, tried
>to keep power in the hands of the member states, viewing the new
>governing structure as a means to strengthen and coordinate their
>national objectives. Every compromise along the way reflected the
>tensions and strains between these two divergent visions.
>
>While the powers that be continue to jostle back and forth between
>federalism and confederalism, the very technological, economic, and
>social realities that gave rise to the European Community, and that
>continue to push it along its journey to union, have created a
>political dynamic of a different sort. Rather than becoming a
>super-state or a mechanism to represent the enlightened national
>self-interests, the European Union has metamorphosed into a third
>form. It has become a discursive forum whose function is to referee
>relationships and help coordinate activity among a range of players,
>of which the nation-state is only one. The European Union's primary
>role has become orchestral. It facilitates the coming together of
>networks of engagement that include nation-states, but also extend
>outward to transnational organizations and inward to municipal and
>regional governments, as well as civil society organizations.
>
>The European Union, then, is less a place than a process. Its genius
>is its indeterminacy. Unlike the traditional nation-state, whose
>purpose is to integrate, assimilate, and unify the diverse interests
>inside its borders, the European Union has no such mission. To the
>contrary, its role is just the opposite of what nation-states do. Its
>political cachet is bound up in facilitating and regulating a
>competing flow of divergent activities and interests.
>
>There has never been a governing institution like the European Union.
>True, the European Union maintains many of the trappings of a state.
>Its laws supersede those of its 25 nations. It has a currency (the
>euro), a flag, and a headquarters. It regulates commerce and trade and
>coordinates energy, transportation, communications, and, increasingly,
>education across its many national borders. Its citizens enjoy a
>common EU passport. It has a European Parliament, which makes laws,
>and a European Court, whose judicial decisions are binding on member
>countries and their citizens. It also has a president and a military
>force.
>
>But though the European Union qualifies as a state in many important
>particulars, it isn't one. It cannot tax its citizens, and its member
>countries still enjoy a veto on any decision that would deploy their
>troops. Most important, the European Union is an extraterritorial
>governing institution. Although it regulates activity within its
>member states, it has no claim to territory. Its legitimacy is based
>exclusively on the continued trust and goodwill of its members and the
>treaties and directives -- and soon a new constitution -- they have
>pledged to uphold.
>
>Today, two-thirds of the people living across the European Union say
>they feel "European." Six out of ten EU citizens say they feel "very
>attached" or "fairly attached" to Europe, while one-third of Europeans
>between the ages of 21 and 35 say they "now regard themselves as more
>European than as nationals of their home country." Although it is
>difficult to fathom, this extraordinary change in how Europe's people
>perceive themselves has occurred in less than 50 years.
>
>
>A New Constitution
>
>
>Europeans are in the midst of a historic debate over whether to ratify
>a proposed constitution. Much of that 265-page document probably would
>not be acceptable to most Americans. Although many passages are
>cribbed largely from our own Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
>Constitution's Bill of Rights, there are other ideas and notions that
>are so alien to the contemporary American psyche that they might be
>considered with suspicion or even thought of as somewhat bizarre.
>
>To begin with, there is not a single reference to God and only a
>veiled reference to Europe's "religious inheritance." Strange, on a
>continent where great cathedrals grace the central plazas of most
>cities and small churches and chapels appear around every corner. Many
>Europeans no longer believe in God. While 82 percent of Americans say
>that God is very important to them, less than 20 percent of Europeans
>express similar religious convictions. God is not the only
>consideration to be given short shift. There is only one reference to
>private property tucked deep inside the document, and barely a passing
>mention of free markets and trade.
>
>Just as striking is what the constitution does emphasize. The EU
>objectives include a clear commitment to "sustainable development . .
>. based on balanced economic growth," a "social market economy," and
>"protection and improvement of the quality of the environment." The
>constitution would also "promote peace . . . combat social exclusion
>and discrimination . . . promote social justice and protection,
>equality between men and women, solidarity between generations, and
>protection of children's rights."
>
>The constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights goes far beyond our
>own Bill of Rights and subsequent constitutional amendments. For
>example, it promises everyone preventive health care, daily and weekly
>rest periods, an annual period of paid leave, maternity and parental
>leave, social and housing assistance, and environmental protection.
>
>The EU Constitution is something new in human history. Though it is
>not as eloquent as the French and U.S. constitutions, it is the first
>governing document of its kind to expand the human franchise to the
>level of global consciousness. The language throughout the draft
>constitution speaks of universalism, making it clear that its focus is
>not a people, or a territory, or a nation, but rather the human race
>and the planet we inhabit.
>
>By decoupling human rights from territoriality, the European Union has
>ventured into a new political frontier, with far-reaching consequences
>for the future of the human race. Citizenship, heretofore, has always
>been attached exclusively to a nation-state. What happens, then, to
>the very idea of the state when the political rights of its members
>are conferred and guaranteed by an extraterritorial body? EU citizens
>have become the first people in the world whose rights are no longer
>dependent on the nation-state, but, rather, are universal and
>enforceable by law.
>
>The gist of the new constitution is a commitment to respect human
>diversity, promote inclusivity, champion human rights and the rights
>of nature, foster quality of life, pursue sustainable development,
>free the human spirit for deep play, build a perpetual peace, and
>nurture a global consciousness. Together, these values and goals
>represent the woof and warp of a fledgling European Dream.
>
>Europe's newly emerging dream is already threatening to create a
>schism with the United States in a number of areas. For example, the
>European Union forbids capital punishment. Even a person who commits
>the most heinous of crimes against fellow human beings, including
>terrorism or genocide, enjoys, in the official words of the European
>Union, "an inherent and inalienable dignity." The Europeans see their
>position on the death penalty as going to the very heart of their new
>dream, and they hope to convince the world of the righteousness of
>their cause.
>
>The growing divisiveness between the American and European dreams
>manifests itself in other ways. For instance, the U.S. government gave
>the green light to genetically modified foods in the mid-1990s, and by
>the end of the decade over half of America's agricultural land was
>given over to GM crops. No new laws were enacted to govern the
>potential harmful effects. With its commitment to the precautionary
>principle and reining in high-risk scientific enterprise, in the name
>of sustainable development and environmental protection, Europe
>responded quite differently. Massive opposition to GM crops led to a
>de facto moratorium and tough new EU protections covering this
>technology.
>
>Although it's too early to tell exactly how successful the "United
>States" of Europe will ultimately prove to be, in an era when our
>identities (and problems) extend beyond borders, no nation will be
>able to go it alone 25 years from now. The European states are the
>first to understand and act upon the emerging realities of a globally
>interdependent world. Others will follow.
>
>
>The Future of a Dream
>
>
>While I am an enthusiastic supporter of Europe's new experiment, my
>one real reservation is that I'm not sure how thick the European Dream
>is. Is Europe's commitment to cultural diversity and peaceful
>coexistence substantial enough to withstand the kind of terrorist
>attacks that we experienced on 9/11 or that Spain experienced on 3/11?
>Would Europeans remain committed to the principles of inclusivity and
>sustainable development were the world economy to plunge into a deep
>and prolonged downturn, maybe even a global depression?
>
>These are the kinds of challenges that test the mettle of a people and
>the vitality and viability of their dream. Regardless of what others
>might think about America, the American Dream has stood the test, in
>good times and bad. We never lost hope in our dream, until very
>recently, even in the darkest hours. Will Europeans be able to say the
>same about their own nascent dream?
>
>Having spent nearly 20 years of my life working in both Europe and
>America, I wonder whether the Europeans' sense of hope is sufficient
>to the task of sustaining a new vision for the future. Dreams require
>optimism, a sense that one's hopes can be fulfilled. Americans are
>flushed with hope and optimism; Europeans, as a people, are less so.
>Still, they are guardedly hopeful about their new union. And public
>opinion surveys show that a younger generation is measured in its
>optimism. Perhaps that's all we can or should expect. The unexamined
>optimism that has been so characteristic of the American spirit has
>not always served us well. In a world of increasing global threats,
>tempered enthusiasm balanced against a realistic assessment of risks
>might be more appropriate.
>
>But there's also a deep pessimistic edge ingrained in the European
>persona -- understandable, perhaps, after so many misbegotten
>political and social experiments, and so much carnage over the
>centuries. Failures can dash hopes. But they can also make a people
>stronger, more resilient, and wiser. Overcoming cynicism is going to
>be as difficult and challenging for Europeans as overcoming naive
>optimism is for Americans.
>
>These are tumultuous times. The European Dream is a beacon of light in
>a troubled world. It beckons us to a new age of inclusivity,
>diversity, quality of life, sustainability, universal human rights,
>the rights of nature, and peace on earth. We Americans used to say
>that the American Dream is worth dying for. The new European Dream is
>worth living for.
>
>Jeremy Rifkin is the best-selling author of numerous books, including
>The End of Work, The Biotech Century, The Age of Access, and The
>Hydrogen Economy. He is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends
>in Washington, D.C. Excerpted from The European Dream
>(Tarcher/Penguin, 2004).

-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand