why are Americans so afraid of the European system?

[space-time]

when there were debates about healthcare, I heard many people mentioning Europe on a negative tone. I think I have heard similar comments about education. Both education and healthcare is of very high quality and affordable in Western Europe, why are US people here so afraid of those systems?

[michaelb]

I think we have to accept that Americans are stupid. And that includes believing and doing stupid things. It is harder to accept that we are far behind most modern countries, but as the gap grows, it will just get clearer and clearer.

[$tevie]

Because here in the US people have a primal fear of "socialism" in any form, even imaginary ones.

[Don Kiyoti]

"Not Invented Here" syndrome.

An ingrained mistrust of anything European, or foreign for that matter.

The notion that we'd have to adopt a European healthcare system, lock, stock and barrel, rather than adapting what works to our own society and needs.

False pride: the idea that nobody can do anything better than we can, therefore if we didn't make it, it must suck.

Our national unwillingness/inability to learn from others or to learn from experience.

[Mac1337]

Nobody is afraid. The better question is why some people are so hell bent on making Americans feel guilty about themselves and their way of life, the cars they drive, house they live in and even how they measure their weights. It is almost a guaranteed quadrennial ritual to take Americans to task on why don't you like soccer, why don't you like soccer? No country has achieved so much in so little time. Instead of asking why aren't Americans more like Europeans how about asking how did a nation accomplish so much with practically nothing. Frankly, if liked France I would have immigrated there instead. I didn't.

[cbelt3]

It's actually a lot simpler. Most of us are or are descended from refugees from Europe. We don't want to go back and face ... Taxation without representation, no potatoes, religious intolerance, the Kaiser, the Nazis, the Serbs, etc. It's a subconscious thing. Besides, we bailed them all out after WWII.

[Seacrest]

[mattkime]

>>The better question is why some people are so hell bent on making Americans feel guilty about themselves and their way of life, the cars they drive, house they live in and even how they measure their weights.

Because you're destroying the earth because you won't turn down your thermostat. The world simply can't sustain a world population living like you. But you know that and probably cherish it.

--

If you want an actual answer to your question you'll read Collapse by Jared Diamond. The simple answer is that far too many americans would rather die than accept a superior solution labeled socialism. Sound stupid? It is. Societies have collapsed over simpler problems with clear but unpopular solutions.

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies..._1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263357748&sr=8-1

[davester]

The reason is because the propaganda organizations (Fox News and the like) have used absurd caricatures of the Europeans as a tool to polarize people. Historically this is a very basic and commonly used propaganda tool. Most of us who have lived in Europe understand that those caricatures are completely false.

[Mac1337]

davester wrote:
Most of us who have lived in Europe understand that those caricatures are completely false.

Did you say this as you were packing your stuff and heading over here?