Tourism is important, of course, and from that standpoint Europe s diversity is a unique source of attractiveness. But this diversity is also a source of inventiveness.

It has often been claimed that capitalism rewards the qualities of self restraint, hard work, inventiveness, thrift, and prudence. On the other hand, it crowds out virtues that have no economic utility, like heroism, honor, generosity, and pity.

The problem is not just the moral inadequacy of the economic virtues, but their disappearance. Hard work and inventiveness are still rewarded, but self restraint, thrift, and prudence surely started to vanish with the first credit card. In the affluent West, everyone borrows to consume as much as possible.

While some in the West may yearn for the return of the strong, unifying state, most of us recognize that it is not coming back. Indeed, some argue that the inventiveness and internationalism of a world networked by interests and shared causes is likely to be more resilient than one crammed into the artificial and increasingly constraining box of the national state.

But this should not go too far, for there are limits to what the state can do, and the strength of private initiative constitutes one key aspect of America, which became the world s leading nation thanks to its dynamism, flexibility, and individual inventiveness. More importantly, beyond the decline of the market and the re legitimization of the state, we may be witnessing a rehabilitation of politics and politicians, if not of idealism.