September 24, 2002
THROWING A DROWNING MAN AN ANVIL:
Gerhard's Generation: Why the new rift between the United States and Germany is for real. (Marc Fisher, September 24, 2002, Slate)After the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany, the country's leaders gingerly promised to take on more responsibility around the world, but the steps were tentative and tiny--a few peacekeepers here, a nice donation there. The world was not ready for Germany to become a political or military power, and neither were most Germans. Americans can grumble and mutter about wussy Germans refusing to carry their own weight, but the fact is that this is our own success in, you'll pardon the expression, nation-building: We helped mold a real democracy over there after World War II, and what the Germans have developed since then is the world's most heightened sensitivity to anything that smacks of nationalism, aggression, or cruelty to animals and trees.
There's another fundamental reason we may be to blame for the moral rot that is consuming Europe: the Marshall Plan. Though often lauded for "saving" Europe after WWII, folk seldom pause to consider what kind of Europe it saved. In making it possible to salvage the kind of proto-Socialist welfare systems that had grown up in Europe prior to the War, our aid may well have prevented the kind of complete collapse of European society that would have allowed a fundamental restructuring of state and society, forcing folks to abandon their dependence on government and look once again to each other. We rebuilt on rotten foundations.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2002 10:49 PM
I disagree. In particular, the German economic recovery was driven by Adenauer’s policies (or those of his Finance Minister, Ludwig Erhard) which were far more free market than any policies before or after in Germany. It was only after prosperity was restored and the Marshall Plan finished that Germany started drifting back into socialism. Britain and France were basically unaffected – the sclerosis that plagues them today had its origin before the end of WWII (Note that The Road To Serfdom was published in 1944). In addition, the Marshall plan was more loans than gifts and unlike welfare programs it was planned to be of limited duration from the start and in fact was terminated. Let’s not fall into trap of believing that everything other nations do is because of the actions of the US. Sometimes our policies are simply irrelevant.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at September 25, 2002 7:21 PMSo when will they be repaying their debts, including those from WWI?
Posted by: oj at September 25, 2002 8:17 PM