> the Europhilia of American leftists
Hardly. I lived for two years in Germany and could give you a dissertation-length list of the ways Central Europe is messed up. There are plenty of problems in every society.
But universal health care, powerful trade unions, socialist parties, a vibrant public mass media, free university education, tiny military budgets, and electoral systems based on proportional representation are magnificent achievements of the Europroletariat. They should be defended and expanded.
-- DRR