ANDREW KLAVAN: Progressives Want the U.S. to Imitate a Dying Europe:

For those of us who love comedy, one of the most delightful ironies of progressivism is how regressive it is, how mired in the past. While conservatives gather to discuss fresh reformist ideas on how to fight poverty and keep a free society afloat, all progressives ever do is reach into their Magic Box of Tomorrow and draw out the same sclerotic socialism that’s been poisoning the lives of nations since at least the 19th century.

How old and out of date is that, you ask. Well, whenever you point out to these seers of the future that not only is socialism a regressive notion, but it is also a notion that has failed utterly everywhere and every time it’s been tried, they immediately respond by pointing proudly to Europe.

Europe! Oh, sure! Where the Future is Born!

And where it’s been going to die since 1913. Read the whole thing.

Related: Responding to the “Progressive” version of Whig history, where all bike paths lead to the crossroads of Belgium and Berkley, Michel Gurfinkiel notes “The West’s Great Folly: Believing Old Empires Had Gone ‘Progressive,’ Too.”