As Barack Obama follows the European model of post-modern development, we face the prospect of stepping on the road to serfdom. What will the nanny state that absolves us from a sense of personal responsibility but, more importantly, strips us of the power to make our own destiny, hold in store for us?

People will become increasingly spoiled, used to their perks, disdainful towards the concept of labor? A real world example is Europe with its generous welfare benefits conjoined with sclerotic growth , sky-high unemployment, and envy of America and China.

What else will happen? Look at France, where people, with no need to rouse themselves, sleep longer than any other group of people in the industrialized world. Why bother to wake up when there are few jobs and when a wage earner is taxed so heavily to support a welfare stat?. Once this statist culture becomes prevailing in a nation - especially one where religion is downgraded as a source of eternal virtues - it becomes very difficult to restore the old values.

This piece by David Gauthier Villars in the Wall Street Journal reports on a study showing how nice it is to be a Frenchman:

When he won the presidential election two years ago, Nicolas Sarkozy urged the French to get up early and work more to earn more.

A study released Monday suggests they missed the wake-up call.

France is the industrialized country where people spend the longest periods sleeping, according to a series of surveys on social habits conducted by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development.

The French sleep a daily average of 530 minutes, compared with 518 for Americans and 469 for Koreans -- the OECD's "most awake" nation, according to the study

Recall, Barack Obama idolizes Europe and he has made clear his dream is to Europeanize America.

Great. I can use the extra 40 winks or so.