A Note From the Netherlands

The Dutch have nice things. Why can’t we?

I’m heading home tomorrow, I think. I’m flying into Newark, which could be a serious problem given the air-traffic chaos. The airline says my flight will be on schedule, but should I believe them?

That aside, everything should be OK. I’m not a foreign-born researcher, so I shouldn’t have any problems with Customs and Border Protection.

Anyway, our local hosts will be taking us around to see some sights, so I only have time for a brief, impressionistic post.

Robin and I are currently in Leiden, which is a lovely town not far from Amsterdam. And after spending yesterday walking around, we both felt depressed. Why? Because the Dutch have so many nice things that we deny ourselves at home.

Disclaimer: Yes, we’ve spent our time here in affluent, attractive areas. I know that there are depressed areas in the Netherlands, some of them not far from here. Still, I don’t think it’s wrong to say that life for most people here is pretty good, with far fewer people in misery than there are in America. And life isn’t just less nasty and brutish; it’s also longer, with Dutch life expectancy 4 years higher than ours.

Urban life is especially appealing. Leiden, and I’m told many other Dutch cities, is spectacularly walkable — and people do indeed walk. They also ride bicycles, thanks both to dedicated bike lanes everywhere and a culture in which commuting and shopping by bike is normal for people of all ages.

Oh, by the way, a computer shop in downtown Leiden quickly repaired my laptop. But I guess that I’m worse off according to Trumponomics. After all, I paid them 80 euros, and all I got in return was my digital life back.

More subjectively, people here don’t seem to be gripped by the political anxiety that has infested America since Trump took power again. Yesterday was Liberation Day, which in the Netherlands means the day the Nazis were driven out — by the Canadian army! — rather than the day they hiked tariffs. We watched the ceremony with Dutch friends, and it was beautiful and moving. It is nice to be in a country where everyone agrees that the Nazis were bad.

To be fair, I can’t take the pulse of feelings here especially well, since one unfortunate thing about the Netherlands, from my point of view, is that people speak Dutch. But looking around here is a reminder that life in an advanced economy can be pleasant. If Americans feel that they’re teetering on the edge of the abyss, we only have ourselves to blame.

I’m still eager to get back to the United States. Indeed, traveling ends up reminding me how American I am, how much I love the good things about my country. But we could live better lives than we do, and it’s sad that we choose not to.