> Europeans have far more restrictions on their rights of speech, self-defence, and freedom of conscience than the Americans That is true. However Europeans te

> Europeans have far more restrictions on their rights of speech, self-defence, and freedom of conscience than the Americans That is true. However Europeans tend to believe that restricting some freedom leads to higher overall freedom: I can exercise a lot more freedom when I don't risk a gun pointed at me. I'm a much freer thinker when religious agenda pushed (overtly or subtly) on me (directly or through societal influence). Same for misinformation and other propaganda. From a European perspective, "american freedom" seems like "free as in free-for-all", which certainly doesn't lead to the highest level of personal freedom. It's a local optimum at best. > They are also substantially poorer than Americans According to this random source (first result for "poverty rate by country") https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poverty-rate-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poverty-r..., America has a similar or worse poverty rate than a lot of Europe (not that European countries can easily be compared). Salaries tend to be higher in the US of course, that doesn't translate directly to living conditions and poverty. Regardless, I don't think that Europe's path to improve poverty level is US-style individual freedom.