How Other People Live

I'm fortunate that my work sometimes takes me to other countries where I get to reflect on what's happening in America from another perspective. It's always a good thing to get out of the country, especially during times like these where the politics is overwhelming and 80% of the population thinks the country is on the wrong track.

So I found myself earlier this month in the German speaking part of Switzerland. The town dated from the 15th Century with Roman ruins from the 2nd. It was painfully beautiful but what struck me the most was how agriculture was everywhere. Towns may have grown up around the farms, but unlike the U.S., the farms are still there and so are the cows and the crops. There are schools and factories - but there will still be crops in view. This is typical of much of Europe, where people really value knowing where their food is coming from, and haven't surrendered everything to the factory farms that produce nearly all the food in the U.S..

The other impressive thing was a train system that served almost every town. Gasoline is almost twice as expensive as in the U.S. but people have access to modern, efficient public transportation so they don't have to use their cars to do everything. Don't get me wrong, Europeans love their cars and drive a lot - but they also take the trains if they are going into the city or commuting.

The beauty of the system is that service is frequent and there are connections from the locals to high-speed intercity trains including the awesome TGV Bullet Trains. I am convinced that if Americans knew what good train service was like, they would flock to it. Unfortunately, it has been utterly destroyed in the U.S. and I would venture that 90% of Americans have never been on a train in their life.

On the downside, the beer is not as good as what is being brewed now in Michigan. It's time for Michigan to start exporting beer to Europe.