Wonderful. You've had the experience and can properly evaluate. That's more than most people have done. That thread I linked to blew up, and I never quite realized how many US lefties fantasize about moving to Europe, and *really* don't like seeing that fantasy critiqued.
Also, many of its charms (the lavish social safety net for example, or the pacifist politics) exist because they live inside an American military protectorate. Take that exogenous factor away, and Europe is a very, very different place...

