"The bigger the state, the smaller its people."
This is a striking phrase by the American commentator Dennis Prager.
He compares the vitality of American society with the dramatic decline in individual greatness in literature, art, music, the sciences, philosophy and medical breakthroughs in Europe.
Where are the towering figures like Brecht, Chekhov, Debussy, Einstein, Freud, Pasteur, Marconi, Proust, Stravinsky, Tolstoy and Zola, to name but a few?
Or from an earlier age, people like Mozart, Beethoven, Darwin, Manet, Hugo and Van Gogh.
With few exceptions, Europe has lost its creativity, intellectual excitement, industrial innovation and risk taking.