Europe and America

I said before that I've been rather active on Disqus and other comment places on the interwebs (especially The Conservative Treehouse lately), and a former European who is now an American posed the question in a daily open comments post concerning the current election: "What has Europe done for America in the last 200 years?"

Great question. And one that I felt needed expanding upon in a comment bordering on a rant. The following was my response:

The last time Europe did anything for America was allowing masses of Europeans migrating away from their countries to the US where they filled our factories, farmed our land, built our skyscrapers and ships, created businesses, brought their cuisine, arts, and music, learned English and adopted the American way, and made America great.
Most of the best people in Europe left a stagnant Old World for a New World of opportunity. People with a sense of purpose, a willingness to work hard for what they want, a sincere belief in individualism, and the ability to dream big were nearly emptied out of Europe up until about the 1930s.

What was left behind were those who were willing to settle for how things were. People who were unwilling to change the status quo. People who evolved after generations into what they are now: those who are perfectly willing to live off of their governments and never work too hard. And they became the people willing to embrace a failed Marxist system because it suited their desires, even if it would destroy their nations eventually.

They are the lazy, the uninspired, and the leeches of the world. And they are the bitter people. When viewing that “shining city on a hill” across the Atlantic that America became, instead of running to her or emulating her, they despise her. They want what America has, but they are not willing to work for it, so they hate it instead.

And so in the aftermath of WWII, when the US spent untold amounts of her wealth to rebuild and fortify Europe, and continued to this day to keep Europe protected, it made these bitter people despise her even more. There is nothing America could do to make the majority of Europeans happy other than to sink to their level and no longer blind them with her glory.

And that is what a small elite class in America has been trying to do. To knock America down to her knees so she can become just another failed state in a world of failed states. But what they, and those across the Atlantic do not understand; cannot and will never understand; is Americans themselves. They do not understand our spirit. They do not understand what drives us. They do not understand simple things like why we cling to our right to bear arms. They do not understand why we do not want national social programs like a health care system. They do not understand why most of us do not want hand outs. Why we actually want to work.

So for all of their hate and bitterness, for all of their attempts to bring us low, it is inevitable that they will fail as long as our spirit remains unbroken. It is inevitable that we Americans, the true Americans of this country who are still the majority, regardless of class, race, gender, or any other label, those who are true patriots who bear the American spirit, will succeed in making America greater than she has ever been before.

Because America is not her government. America is not her policies or social programs. America is not her demographics or diversity. She is not her lands or borders, her allies or enemies. She is not her military or her industry. She is not her economy or her wealth. She is not her religions, her accents, or her cultures. She is We the People, and We will not be denied.