| "These are tumultuous times. Much of the world is going dark, leaving many human beings without clear direction. The European Dream is a beacon of light in a troubled world. It beckons us to a new age of inclusivity, diversity, quality of life, sustainability, universal human rights, the rights of nature, and peace on earth. We Americans used to say that the American Dream is worth dying for. The new European Dream is worth living for" - Jeremy Rifkin. |
The American Dream is fading and in its place a new more inclusive European vision of the future is on the rise, according to a leading US writer.
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| Europe: beacon of light in dark times |
"When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life, Europe now surpasses America," says Mr Rifkin.
The author joined Amsterdam Forum host Andy Clark late last year to talk about the rise of Europe.
Andy Clark: "Cynics might say the American Dream was always more myth than reality for most Americans, but it seems that in the past there was a belief in it at least, now you're saying that belief is eroding - dying out - why is that?"
Rifkin: "Let me say that I grew up on the American Dream and it was robust. There was a reality to that dream and it was the gold standard for the whole world for 200 years."
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Click to listen to the programme, first broadcast on 11 December 2004 |
"Unfortunately in the last 40 years the dream has completely unravelled. Today the United States ranks 24th among industrial nations in income disparity - the gap between the very rich at the top and the multitudes of working poor at the bottom - only Mexico and Russia rank lower in income distribution."
"It's no wonder a bare 51 percent of Americans still believe in the American Dream and unfortunately one out of three Americans say they don't believe in the American Dream anymore, it's fading."
As ever listeners from around the world were keen to have their say.
Jim Hill from Reno, Nevada, USA: "I think Europe is certainly becoming the new model for the world to follow. I was privileged to live in the Netherlands for four years in the late 80's and early 90s. I find myself now wishing I could leave America and go back to Europe."
"Especially with the current American mindset and political situation, but also because of the quality of life enjoyed by Europeans as opposed to Americans. While there are many of us in America working to change our country and model it more along the socialism and pluralism of Europe, we have a long hard road ahead of us. Europeans have a big head start, and are the model for the future of the world."
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Next week: Why does Washington fear the International Criminal Court? Why is the current US administration so wary of submitting to its authority? Have your say in a special Amsterdam Forum from Radio Netherlands and America's National Public Radio.
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"That's the real demarcation between America and Europe, our dream is very individualistic, the European Dream is much more communal. To have a quality of life the whole community has to tax itself and make sure no one falls too far behind."
"If you look at the central core of that value of life then the EU 15 - the most advanced EU countries - have surpassed America in many ways."
Berrada M. Ali from Rabat, Morocco: "When I was young my instinct and intuition pushed me to think that the American model was better and stronger than the other models. Now for me the best model is represented by Europe, on the conditions that European people will adopt a new culture and politics based on ethics, social justice, solidarity and universality of human rights. Without justice and real freedom for all, without exceptions, and mutual respect for other people and respect for the environment, a political power loses its legitimacy." |
| Jeremy Rifkin: Europe must seize the chance |
"By the 20th century and after the end of World War II, Europeans explored the idea of a social economy, a balance between the market place and individualism and a social solidarity represented by redistribution of wealth and quality of life."
"On equality - there still is a lot of hypocrisy in the European Dream which still needs to be addressed. For all the talk about America we're still better at absorbing new immigrants, we're not afraid of new blood, we like new blood we believe it's the heartbeat of America."
"Europe talks about multicultural diversity, but there's quite a fear across Europe in opening the gates to immigrants, especially Muslim minorities. There's the fear that immigrants will not respect local cultures, that they will take the remaining unskilled jobs, that they will dampen labour costs, that they'll collapse the welfare bureaucracies because of their demands and needs, and create crime."
"More importantly this can result in fascist political movements as a backlash and then you've got the bad old days of the 1930s coming back to Europe."
"The test of the European Dream is how does it open its doors successfully to immigration and maintain multicultural diversity. You can't have a global dream - which Europe is - and then lock the doors and say we're not going to be a global public square."
"I think we all should look to see how Europe addresses the question of allowing Turkey into the union and opening the doors to immigration."
For the European Dream to really come into its own Jeremy Rifkin says a couple of things are essential.
"There are two strengths of the American Dream that Europe needs to embrace or the dream won't be thick enough to make it in the long run."
"One is our personal accountability - what I like about the American Dream is that our parents teach us that you are responsible for your life, don't blame anybody else, no one is going to look out for, look out for yourself and at least take responsibility for your life."
"Many of my European friends blame other people for their condition. You can't have a strong global dream and then say someone else is responsible and you're not."
"Secondly I love the American Dream sense of optimism, hope and risk taking. Dreams require optimism - you cannot be a eurosceptic or a defeatist or a pessimist and have a European Dream - dreams require hope and you have to take risks for a dream and you have to make sacrifices."
"If we could take the American strengths - our sense of personal accountability, our sense of personal optimism our sense of personal risk taking - and galvanise them onto the European Dream - with its sense of solidarity, its sense of communal responsibility, its sense of global consciousness - then the European Dream would truly be a gold standard and the reference for a global consciousness in the 21st century."
Jeremy Rifkin is the best-selling author of The End of Time, The Biotech Century, The Age of Access and The Hydrogen Economy. He's a fellow at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania and he is president of The Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington.