My family and I were in Scandinavia the last two weeks. We went to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It is an absolutely gorgeous part of the world, and the people are lovely.
But when you are traveling abroad, you feel certain things on an innate level about who you are and what your background is versus this new place you’re exploring. One of the things I noticed most was: What is America? It is a capitalist country. We are not a socialist country, even though the left would like us to be more and more. These places we visited are democratic socialist nations. They have different policies, and they definitely have a better social safety net.
But when we asked one of our guides what she pays in taxes, she said 75 percent of my money. And that’s the thing: All these folks know that no matter what they do or choose, they will be supported by the government until their dying day. They also know that whatever they make, at best, they are going to take home about 25 percent of it.
Now, what does that do? Does that just make you feel happy and secure and encourage entrepreneurship, moonshots, invention, or risk? No, I would suggest it does exactly the opposite. And this, to me, manifested in small ways.
When you are not in a capitalist society, you walk into a hotel and the bellmen – who normally would rush to take a woman’s big bag – were like, ‘Ah, you’re good.’ There is no rush. They are not hustling for a tip. They don’t care. You go to the restaurants and there is not a waiter who is going above and beyond to try to give you great service and make sure you have a good time so that he gets a good tip.
That is the American capitalist spirit: If I work harder for you, presumably, you will reward me with something that says ‘I value you.’ Nope, not there. The attitude seems to be, ‘We don’t really do that here. My government has got me.’ You could feel it.
I missed that American hustle. I missed the gunners that you see. I live outside of New York, and you see these guys everywhere when you go into the city. You go into a cocktail lounge and there are the movers and shakers of the world having drinks and talking about the future. Then you go out into the street and you see the guys who are doing the ‘dirty jobs.’ You thank the cops for their service, and they’ve got the New York accent. I missed all of it.
I couldn’t see life at a 6.5. You know what I mean? I would much rather live in a place where there are ones and tens. In America, you have the right to try. You don’t have the right to win. There is no guaranteed success and no guaranteed safety net for a lot of Americans. That is also true. But the right to try and change your station in life here is unlike any other country in the world.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 822 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.