National Mediocrity

The United States of course does not have a monopoly on mediocrity. When I spin the globe, the award for most mediocre continent goes to (envelope please!), Europe. Why, they cannot even agree on a common currency, something that we did in the US a hundred years ago.

I read recently that the Italians were likely to vote to scrap the Euro. What an insult, replacing the mighty Euro with the Lira! “Here’s your Poppin’-Hot-Pope-Dog, señor. That will be 1.25 Euros, or three billion Lira.”

European mediocrity is not always so comical. Their unemployment rates are perpetually higher than the US, gross domestic products lower. I used to work for a subsidiary of an English company. Getting anything done in the month of August was impossible because of the collective four to six week European vacation, Chevy Chase not included. The chart of unemployment rates tells the story ^[18].

Take a look at Japan for another example. After WWII, the US helped rebuild Japan, teaching its people manufacturing skills. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Japan’s auto industry just about put American automakers out of business. They were more efficient, made a better, more reliable product, and their cars got great gas mileage.

But starting in about 1985 the Japanese economy began to stall. By 1990, Japan was in recession and its economy has been flagging ever since. Why? Take a look at the chart of GDP by year ^[19].

Gross domestic product is measured per person in units adjusted for national currency value (PPS). The USA has been ahead of Europe consistently for the period, but Japan has finally reaped the reward of its slide toward socialism: GDP parity with Europe. Congratulations Japan!

The why of Japan’s recession is European socialism, central economic planning. If Japan had thrown the doors off its economy, and empowered the Producers with freedom and capitalism, we would all be driving Toyotas through downtown Detroit. The Japanese government throttled its own economy with too much regulation, just like Europe has.

After twenty years of anemic growth, Japan is still laboring under a burden of government-induced Paraducerism. Looks like Japan’s falling GDP curve is going to be threatened by the third world soon. Maybe, maybe not. More on that later.

So we see that mediocrity can happen at a personal and national level. Returning to “The Restaurant at the end of the Universe” and the other three books in the ‘trilogy,’ author Douglas Adams reveals the most heinous, offensive and inappropriate swear word in the universe: Belgium. Seems they don’t like mediocrity among the stars, either.

As I write this, Lance Armstrong has just won his seventh Tour de France. I could not have chosen a brighter light than Lance to flush out the cockroaches of European mediocrity. The French in particular have a difficult time with his success, calling him a machine and robot, and saying that when he puts that jersey on he is a different man. The BBC reported this Swiss comment about Lance’s sixth Tour de France win in 2004:

“Switzerland's La Tribune De Geneve sees Mr. Armstrong's behavior as haughty, contrasting European cycling's camaraderie with what it describes as ‘a typically American business that scorns humanity. Mankind is not fond of those who gorge themselves on success without suffering and without showing compassion for their fellows.’" ^[20]

This is so revealing. First, American business scorns humanity. Why do they say this? Because we reject socialism, the humane economic system where your hard work pays the rest of humanity to work 35 hour weeks, take 6-week vacations, watch television and draw unemployment benefits. In fact, Europe is so humane that they have fostered a high unemployment rate just so they can demonstrate their humanity to the rest of the world by supporting all those non-workers. They also say American business scorns humanity because we are successful!

Next we consider “those who gorge themselves on success without suffering.” They are not just talking about Lance, they are talking about you, Producer. When you succeed, you are gorging. When you succeed spectacularly, then you cannot deserve it because you have not suffered for it. What pitiful envy eats at these Europeans. Lance is a cycling legend, but without hard work and suffering during training, a potential legend is nothing but a nobody. I’m not even referring to Lance’s victory over cancer.

Then, of course, we enjoy success “without showing compassion for [our] fellows.” In a bicycle race, and in life, excellence excels and becomes better than the rest of the pack, and rightly so. As Producers, we must and do have compassion on those people in the rest of the pack. But compassion and excellence are not mutually exclusive! Producers can be the best and mentor followers to be their best as well.

The Europeans believe that the only fair system is one where everyone is equally miserable, where we are all mediocre. In America, you, Producer, can excel and win, and at the same time show compassion for anyone you choose, and American Producers have a track record of doing just that. When was the last time Europe had to send troops or food to aid Americans? No, the twentieth century saw just the opposite several times as Americans sacrificed and died to preserve the European right to mediocrity and provincialism.

Let’s take a look at some Paraducer groups that are dragging down America.