Socialist and Secular Decay of Europe

I am late to last week's piece in Human Events by Victor Davis Hanson on the end of Europe's vacation from history. The article’s central point is that Europe’s socialist economic policies have lasted decades beyond the wealth their previous capitalist policies produced, hence the current financial woes. The lesson here is that socialist Europe is waking up to the idea that cradle to grave entitlements, while lovely and humanitarian in concept, are unsustainable. So why then is the united states heading down the path to socialism.

You should read he article for VDH’s analysis. For right now, I am interested in two salient points of personal interest.

One, social excessive entitlement programs promote hedonism. The rationale here is that if people under a socialist regime are going to wind up roughly the same in terms of wealth, what is the point of thinking about the future? There is no reason to have savings, leave an inheritance for children, or eve have children, for that matter. Life as award of the state is best lived in the here and now.

That attitude destroys the work ethic, which in turn curtails wealth building, which means not enough money to pay for the government services that enabled the attitude in the first place. It is not only a vicious cycle, but one that cannot last.

Two, the hedonism produced by entitlement societies destroys the spiritual fabric of the society. The greatest barrier to hedonism is morality. Morality is found within the Christian tradition of Europe. But since said morality gets in the way of a good time, it must be done away with. So out goes Christianity as politically incorrect--a nice way of saying of saying it rains on the party in which man does what is right in his own eyes.

I take it as a warning to where the United States might be headed if the progressives are not stopped.