Europe Envy

I think most American liberals have some level of Europe envy. Is that fair to say? There's nothing wrong with it; I've lived in Europe twice and think Europeans get many things right—healthier communal support for the arts and museums, for one.


But I wonder if a certain aspect of the European Union fits better with libertarian thought than with liberal thought.
That is, the modern European Union—a union of separate governments joined by common ideals—is more like the state-empowered libertarian vision of America than the fed-empowered liberal vision of America. At the very least, no single government in the EU governs anywhere close to 312 million people.


Libertarians typically argue that most current federal powers should be transferred to the states because the tenth amendment declares as much. Opponents to this idea argue that such a shift would lead to a race to the bottom, meaning that if the distinctions between states were more dramatic, governors would become hellbent on stealing jobs from other states.


There's merit to that argument, as outlined in an interview Jon Stewart had with Jennifer Granholm, governor of Michigan. She's rightly worried that Michigan is hurting because other states are sucking jobs from her state. This competition isn't good for the nation as a whole, she argues. It means that some governors are placing the desires of their state above the needs of the nation.


In my mind, that's a valid tradeoff to the libertarian position, but it doesn't negate the libertarian position. Who's to say, after all, that the governor of Michigan can't out-innovate other governors and figure out a way to draw employers to come back or stay? And if she does, and this innovative idea catches on and other governors implement it, then who's to say that it wouldn't eventually help the whole nation?