>Also, it is more to do with our outlook and culture:
>
>This anarchic spirit was summed up by Ronald Reagan: “The ten most dangerous words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help you’.” In Europe, by contrast, the public expect government to solve all problems, and the media try to hold politicians accountable for everything. The result is a culture of dependency that extends far beyond the welfare state, to business and to the worlds of education, medicine, arts and science.

This is the centerpiece of the "we will dismantle the government while plundering all the money it has gathered" movement of the American right. They'll privatize everything and accuse the government of all possible bad effects; they'll insist that the best people, if truly best, should not be working for the government, but for the private sector (and are willing to make the point by paying them two or ten times more... by largely de-funding the government during their watch). But they still need the government to bail them out when they screw up (whenever a bubble bursts or when their privatized foreign policy blows into terrorist reaction)(disclaimer: no evidence, no source, just an impression, so anyone can liberally ignore what I said).

>I fail to see how the European view is superior.

When retold through R. Reagan, it can't be. What you quoted is a caricatural account designed specifically to chastise anyone who would like to have social matters handled by the people for the people under the control of the people, and male them feel stupid and at fault, and to make sure that everyone leaves the room believing that a greedy, self interested capitalist will do it all far better because he will make money on them in the process.