In Europe, people take to the streets to protest cuts in government spending and reductions, real or perceived, in the entitlement cradle-to-crave nanny state. And all this in spite of the fiscal reality that such a government overreach has produced deficits their societies cannot sustain. The folks in the streets want more spending, more government, more of the cradle-to-grave nanny state.
Here's France:
And here are the Greeks:
Americans, on the contrary, have taken to the streets to protest government spending, the deficit, and to demand a reduction in the size and scope of government in their lives. They protest against big government, not for it. Americans, by and large, have a preference for individual freedom and an inherent suspicion of intertwining their individual fates with the caprice of government largess. It is the cultural effect of our unique history: it is how we are hard-wired as a people.
Here is the Tea Party:
That is quite a difference, one worth keeping in mind when discussing what is "mainstream" and what is "extreme" in American thinking.
