Highly recommend Chris Arnade’s latest Substack discussion of the legitimate difference in human values between Europe and America and how that plays out in cultural priorities and what we think of as “the good life”.

An excerpt:

There is a genuine comprehension gap between the US and Europe. There really are two different minds with two different understandings of what it means to be a human, and that manifests in different rules, regulations, and priorities, since policy is a result of a society’s cultural preferences….

While the US and Europe share a broad commitment to classical Liberalism, and Democracy, we have very different definitions of the Public Good, which means different views of what we want out of life, and what we consider fulfilling. In broad and simplistic terms, the US emphasizes material wealth, opportunity, and individual liberty while Europe values community health, a shared common good, and a sense of place.

From the European perspective the US has a cult of the individual, and that’s why it has too many guns, obscenely large cars, can’t build a public transportation system, and has dysfunctional public spaces. From the US perspective Europeans are unmotivated unproductive slackers who would rather sip coffee all day than work, and their idea of a shared common good means stealing from the successful to give to the losers.

This difference isn’t simply about things such as tax policy, health care, and worker rights (although those matter), but about how we understand the good life, and how our built environment reflects that.

As with any of Arnade’s posts, the associated photographs really are a must-view to fully appreciate his perspective. Worth reading and subscribing.