Europeans shied away from open, free markets as we have here in America, primarily because of their historical roots.  Those who chaffed at being controlled, who wanted to chart their own course, who wanted to make decisions like a lord or lady of the court, without needing the ‘proper papers‘ left England and Europe and established America.  There they relied on themselves to tame a continent – not government.

Those who stayed in Europe pushed for the elimination of the Fuedal system per say, but never really wandered too far away from the protection of the Lord and Master – now instantiated in the government.  Government Bureaucrats are now the lords and ladies of the court who go to elite, specialized schools and decend from families trained in the art of telling everyone else what to do and think.

So it is no surprise Europeans tend to look to government for answers and Americans to tend to look to government to get out of the way of solutions.  The result is many of the young in Europe are decrying the cage they have to exist in, but are upset the cage is not nicer than they expected!

The images a week ago of cheering students occupying the 17th-century Sorbonne, the birthplace of the 1968 revolt, called forth memories of that exhilarating, romantic leftist youth movement.

But the students’ goal this time is far more modest. They want the abolition of a new law, the First Employment Contract, which aims to increase hiring by allowing employers to fire new workers without cause in their first two years.

…

“Sixty-eight was a mass revolutionary movement to create a socialist society,” said Henri Weber, now a member of the European Parliament, who was a Communist leader of the 1968 revolt. “We had an idealistic vision.”

The current problem stems from a flawed educational system that churns out young people who lack the necessary skills to get jobs, combined with rigid labor laws that discourage job formation because they require hugely expensive benefits and job-security packages that make it difficult for employers to fire anyone.

See, the problem is they got what they wanted in 1968, but they do not comprehend what it was they got.  They were sold a story about socialistic nirvanna, when that happened is they bequeathed their lives to faceless government workers to allocate out to the masses.  So they go out to demonstrate how bad it all is, and how they want more of the same.  Sad.