General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why is the American left not as effective as the European left? [View all]whatthehey
(3,660 posts)Here the perfect is not just the enemy of the good but the absolute, leather clad, whip cracking, ball-gag-stuffing dominatrix of the good, allowing the good not a nanometer of control or freedom.
The one gap may be the underlying motivations for the difference in approach. It's been 2-3 generations at the very least, and more in most cases, since Euro populations were indoctrinated from birth into the "you're on yoour own, rugged individualist - go forth and create Galt's Gulch" bullshit. Many never were, going instead straight from "your place in society is natural, just and irrevocable - deal with it" to "you are part of a state which is collectively responsible fo all". By a quirk of history and demographics, the US instead absorbed the mantra of self determination and hence self loathing that the worthy succeed and the less successful by definition are unworthy.