Europe's death toll rises

Just how many Europeans actually died last month due to a heat wave is still far from settled.

It appears 15,000 are dead in France alone.

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Italy's health ministry is attributing 4,200 deaths to the heat, but it also admits 34,071 people over the age of 65 died from July 16 through Aug. 15 and the 4,200 is just a guess based on that four-week period. It has not even looked at deaths in the final two weeks of August.

The Netherlands say 1,400 died of heat-related issues there.

Portugal is estimating 1,300.

British officials say 900 died there.

No word from Germany or other countries yet.

The truth is we're looking at a mini-holocaust in Europe in a very short period of time – and no one there is screaming about it. No one is demanding answers. No one is addressing the real problems.

These deaths were not the result of global warming. They were not inevitable because of some "act of God." They were the result of bad choices and irresponsibility by Europeans.

The French take some degree of pride in their aversion to air-conditioning. They claim it is proof of their concern for the environment and concerns about conserving energy.

The August death toll suggests there is a heavy price for that kind of phony, misguided, misplaced "compassion."

But there is more to the story than air-conditioning.

The socialists in France and elsewhere on the continent point with pride to their 35-hour work week and long vacations mandated on employers. Strict enforcement of this state policy made caring for the sick and elderly very difficult in August. Compounding the problem, many of the youngest and most able-bodied Europeans headed for the beach and cool-weather destinations. Those included hospital and health-care workers. Left behind were the aged and infirm. Guess who paid the price for the good life last month?

Here's an example of how the 35-hour work week killed people. Here's an example of how worker vacation benefits killed people. Here's an example of how socialism – even the well-meaning, democratic brand of state socialism they know in Europe – killed people by the thousands.

Nearly 25,000 known dead already – and the final count is far from in. The governments seem to be purposefully and painfully slow in getting this information together and making it public. Can you guess why?

No one in Europe is examining what happened with a realistic outlook. No one is suggesting governments may need to do things differently as a result of this calamity. No one is willing to reconsider their time off or their shorter work week.

Europe is not only in an advanced state of socialism, it is in an advanced state of selfish denial. There's no going back. Europeans are unwilling and unable to see the reality of the nightmare they are creating for themselves in their haughty post-Christian, enlightened world.

They many not be able to learn from this lesson in Europe. But can Americans learn something? Are we willing to ignore disasters like this – pretend they aren't happening or pretend we can't prevent them? Are we prepared to go down the same road as the Europeans and make the same mistakes?

We're not that far behind them on the slippery slope of socialism – not that far at all.

Political opposition to bigger spending programs, more regulation and mandates on personal behavior have never been scarcer in the history of the republic. Never in history has there been less willingness to build power plants and to drill for oil.

There is a cost to this kind of thinking – or non-thinking. And Europe is still calculating that cost as it slowly counts the bodies.