[randomcards]

I'll chime in my 2 cents, only speaking for myself, there is so much diversity here in America I can't generalize.

For reference I am an educated (2 master's degrees) Texan who would be considered a religious conservative by others. Yes I voted for Bush.

I have spent almost 3 months across various Western European countries and various trips.

In general I think Americans work harder than the Europeans I have met. I think this is cultural (greater value on vacations, time off) as well as less motivation to perform due to the governmental systems. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but that's my view.

I think that due to the greater variation of education systems in America (I personally was home schooled) that our top 10% might exceed Europe's top 10%, but our bottom 33% is below most of Europe's bottom 33% (depending on country).

I think in general I also believe Europe to be much less religious (at least in terms of what I would consider to be integral personal religion) and have what I would consider lower moral standards than a large chunk of Americans (although many in America would be the same as many Europeans). I think in Europe religion is more historical and traditional, and while that exists here in the US, there are large chunks of our population for which religion is a deeply personal and integral part of our lives.

I think Americans are much more self centered and unaware of the world as a whole compared with most Europeans. I am always humbled when I travel to Europe and so many of you are multi-lingual and more aware of world politics/views.

I think many Europeans blame the US for political things that go on in the world. While I don't think we get all of our foreign policy decisions correct, I think if we did not do many of the things that we do the world would be much worse overall. I also think that we crush other countries in the amount of humanatarian assistance, and "good" involvement (i.e. economic assistance, food, water, missions, schools, etc) in other countries and that I think is generally not acknowledged by Europeans.

In my travels to Europe I found most Europeans to be very open, insightful, friendly and nice. Except for Parisians who are a bunch of jerks as a whole.

And finally I think that most Americans spend much less time thinking about Europe than the opposite. European culture is not as present (media, products) here and where it is it is Americanized.