The Tea-Baggers and their ilk often chastise President Obama, saying that the Democrats "want to turn the U.S. into France." Of course, few, if any of these morons have ever actually been to France. I'd suspect that most Americans, if they got the chance to visit France would be astonished at how high the quality of life is.

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Where are all the rude waiters, I wondered?

Isn't that supposed to be what Paris is notorious for among U.S. tourists?

I recently returned from a week-long trip to Paris and I have to admit, I didn't encounter a single rude waiter the whole week I was there. In fact, I didn't encounter any snooty French people (or any anti-Americanism) for that matter.

Not only were the waiters not rude, they were often downright friendly; even laughing and cracking jokes at times. It was all the more surprising, given that this was August: a month when virtually every worker in France goes on vacation. You'd think that those few unfortunates who have to stay behind and work, serving tourists, would be grumpy. But this wasn't the case.

I have to confess: at one time, years ago, I did not particularly like France. I have no idea why. I suppose it was just part of being an American. We Americans are pretty much trained from birth to hate the French (even as we're taught to love baseball, hot dogs and apple pie).

My mindless dislike of the French started to evaporate in the 1980s. At the time, I was working 80 and 90 hours a week, just to survive. I worked many years without a single day of vacation (indeed, I usually had to work all the major holidays, including Christmas. Such was life in the newspaper biz).

One day, I read an article in theFinancial Timesnewspaper that talked about how most European workers got at least five weeks of vacation time a year. I thought it must be a misprint. I simply couldn't fathom five weeks of vacation. I began to reconsider my views of the French. Was France really all that bad, I wondered?

I began to really admire France around the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The very fact that the NeoCons despised France make me like that nation even more.

Which raises an interesting question: why, exactly, were the NeoCons so angry at France in the first place? Because the French refused to go along with Bush's stupid war of lies?

And here's something that's even more odd: the NeoConsto this dayarestillangry at France. Why? It's beyond my comprehension. If anything, the U.S.owes the French an apologyfor trying to drag that nation into a disastrous, illegal, immoral war that hasslaughteredover 1.3 million Iraqi men, women and children.

The French refused to give up their blood and treasure for this disaster. And for this, the NeoCons areangryat the French? It's bizarre. It seems like the French ought to be the ones who are angry at us.

Anyway, back to my recent visit to Paris.

The Lovely City of Lights

Paris has got to be one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Just about everywhere you look is a picture-postcard view. It's a city in which no one really needs a car. You can simply walk, or take the modern, efficient Metro subway. August in Paris is nothing like my native Texas (when you can fry an egg on the sidewalk). In Paris, the weather is often mild this time of year.

Walking in Paris is a true joy. Indeed the city appears to have been designed with the pedestrian in mind. Or, if you'd like, you can rent a bicycle, from the automated bike stands that are common throughout the city.

On our trip, we hit all the usual, popular Parisian sights. First up, was the amazing Louvre, the national museum of France. It could easily take years to see all the marvels the Louvre offers.

We contented ourselves with the "Big Three" Louvre sights: the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and, of course, the Mona Lisa.

The latter, which is likely the most famous painting on earth, is constantly surrounded by an enormous crowd of people. It is safely protected by bullet-proof glass, as well as full-time security guards. And for good reason: the painting has been attacked on numerous occasions over the past century. The most recent attack came this summer, when a Russian woman threw a mug at the painting, apparently angry over her immigration status in France.

There's one drawback to visiting the Louvre in August. It is extremely crowded. It's truly amazing how many languages one overhears from the crowds: everything from German to Japanese to various flavors of English. But mostly, one hears French (which is not surprising, considering the French love to vacation in their own country---and who can blame them?)

But it's not just the Louvre that is crowded. Everywhere you go in Paris this time of year, you feel the crush of crowds.

The crowds were even worse during our visit to the Palace of Versailles, a 30-minute train ride from Paris. The dazzling 17th century, ornate architecture here simply must be seen to be believed. And nowhere is Versailles more impressive than at the magnificentGalerie des Glaces(the Hall of Mirrors) with its endless square yards of masterpiece paintings and ornate chandeliers. Photos don't do it justice.

The only drawback to Versailles was (once again) the stifling crowds. In many of the rooms we were packed in like sardines. And although photography is allowed, good luck in taking a photo of anything, without someone walking into your shot.

Which raises a question: haven't all these tourists heard the news: that there is a serious worldwide recession raging at the moment?

Indeed, in most of our travels throughout the Paris region, we saw little evidence of the current recession. To be sure, here and there, one will encounter a homeless person (although I saw fewer homeless people in Paris than I typically see in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas).

Whatever the reason, there was little evidence of a recession in Paris, at least that I could see. And recession or not, there are still hordes of tourists, with cash to burn.

Speaking of which, Paris is not a city for those who want a budget vacation. Be prepared to spend quite a bit. The dollar currently only buys .67 of a Euro. So your dollar won't go far these days.

This was most evident in our hotel, the Villa Alessandra, a few blocks north of the gigantic Arc de Triomphe monument. Although our hotel billed itself as "Four Star," our room was tiny and not much bigger than a walk-in closet in a typical upper-middle-class suburban American McMansion. There wasn't much room for anything, outside of our bed. Plus the A/C wasn't working.

If there was any real disappointment in our Paris trip, our hotel was it. However, as any seasoned world traveler will tell you: it's always best to just shrug off disappointments and "go with the flow" and not allow setbacks to ruin one's trip.

And what our hotel lacked, the rest of Paris made up for it, in spades.

In fact, all we had to do to immediately lift our spirits was to simply step out of our hotel and walk down the street a short ways. There, we encountered a lovely, open-air Paris market that seemed like a throwback to the 19th century. Lots of tiny little, mom-and-pop shops, selling everything from fresh fruit, to seafood, to cheese, to chocolate.

We popped into a cheese shop and picked up various samples of the wares, which we ate with home-made French bread. I've never really been that big a cheese buff. But Paris definitely converted me. There is an incredible variety of cheese in France and it is, in many cases, vastly more delicious than any cheese I've ever had in the U.S.

Indeed, the most impressive meal I had in Paris was not at some swanky restaurant. Instead, it was simply a selection of cheese and a loaf of bread, washed down with some Bordeaux wine, that we leisurely ate at a sidewalk cafe table. (Curiously, even good quality wine is often a cheaper menu item than other drinks, like Coca-Cola). I guess it shouldn't really be surprising in France, where wine is much more than simply a drink---it's a crucial component of life.

Time For Some Mindless Fun

After several days of culture-overload in Paris, we decided that it was time for some mindless fun, so we were off to Disneyland Paris.

So we took the train and made the 30-minute jaunt to what I've read is the most-visited tourist destination in all of Europe. Not most-loved. Most visited---and I'd suspect that has a lot to do with the same reason that U.S. cinema dominates on the Continent---that is, vast, overwhelming budgets and sheer marketing muscle.

I have to admit: visiting Disneyland does have its appeal. I guess it did bring out the kid in me. Beforehand, I was a bit leery of riding the intense, state-of-the-art roller coasters, which I was sure that my bad back would never forgive me for. But as it turned out, the rides were a blast, and my back never once complained.

These are not your father's rollercoasters. They can offer a jaw-dropping, hallucinogenic rush that's simply indescribable. These are the sort of rides that will dazzle even the most jaded teenager. One thrill ride, the "Tower of Terror," aims to simulate the experience of being in a falling elevator. It's not for the faint, or weak, of heart.

Disneyland Paris is pretty much like its U.S. counterpart (although from what I've read, many of the rides are newer and therefore, more state-of-the-art).

Some of the attractions, though seem out of place. For example, the picturesque "Main Street U.S.A." that greets you when you first enter the park. I can understand the appeal of this concept at the U.S. Disney parks. After all, in the U.S., we've allowed Wal-Mart and other monstrous big-box stores to pretty much devastate the downtowns of our small and medium sized cities. So Disney's idealized "Main Street U.S.A." is a welcome trip down memory lane for many Americans.

I'm not sure how this concept plays out in Europe, though. After all, most of Europe still has highly-walkable, lovely, thriving downtown centers in many of its cities. You don't need to go to a Disney park to get this experience. European cities are by definition pedestrian-friendly.

I wonder how many Europeans who walk down Disney's "Main Street U.S.A." are aware that this idealized version of a U.S. city center is as extinct in America as our nation's once-world-beating passenger trains.

For the most part, nothing like "Main Street U.S.A." exists in most U.S. cities these days. Instead, people get in their cars and go shop at god-awful ugly strip shopping centers, with their endless banal neon signs, ubiquitous fast-food joints, acres of parking lots, and other eyesores.

We then made a visit to one of the city's top tourist destinations: Notre Dame de Paris cathedral, a marvel of stone built in the 12th century.

Needless to say, they don't (and indeed,can't) construct buildings like this any more. It's a lost art. Notre Dame is an amazing symphony of graceful stonework, soaring ceilings and flying buttresses. Curiously, it's one of the few tourist spots in Paris where we don't feel packed in like sardines by the crush of tourists.

Also, refreshingly, there's no entrance fee. We just walk in to the magnificent edifice, with no queues, or any hassles. And if there's anything more impressive that the exterior of this church, it's the dazzling interior, with its soaring arches and stained-glass windows.

Another pleasant surprise is that (as was the case at the Louvre), there are no rules against taking photos or videos. And Notre Dame was the building that my Nikon was built for. I could have spent months there, snapping away at the endless marvels.

How this enchanting cathedral has managed to survive more than 800 years of wars, riots, rebellions and turmoil, is a mystery.

Our Paris adventure is coming to an end, and we're not yet had a chance to visit the No. 1 tourist destination in the city: the Eiffel Tower. It's quite impressive up close---and even more so at night, when the whole structure is brilliantly illuminated. But the incredible crowds that we managed to avoid at Notre Dame have returned. The elevator to the top is not an experience for the claustrophobic. But the sight that greets us at the top is worth the trip, as we gaze out over the lovely City of Lights.

After that, it's back to Charles de Gaulle Airport, and home.

Final Thoughts

A few random thoughts come to mind after my week-long trip to Paris:

First of all, U.S. economists are always telling us how we must run our society, in order to generate prosperity. Their prescription includes allowing corporations to do pretty much anything they please, with little or no government oversight. Capitalism is at its best, they insist, when there is a minimum of organized labor and little or no government red tape, bureaucracy, or anything else that gets in the way of free enterprise.

But there's only one problem. Nations like France break every single one of these rules. And yet, far from being any sort of economic basket case, France is actually outperforming the U.S. these days. In fact, France and Germany recentlyemergedfrom recession---ahead of the U.S.

In fact, I'd suspect that the "official" GDP numbers really don't do justice to the European model. GDP stats, after all, don't factor in things like annual worker vacation time, high-quality medical care, maternity leave, or most other quality of life issues.

The Tea-Baggers and their ilk often chastise President Obama, saying that the Dems "want to turn the U.S. into France." Of course, few, if any of these morons have ever actually been to France.

I'd suspect that most Americans, if they got the chance to visit France would be astonished at how high the quality of life is.

The French, after all, still know how to enjoy their leisure time (and indeed, believe that leisure is as important a component of life as work is). By contrast, most Americans wouldn't know "leisure" if it ran over them on the highway.

A culture that knows how to enjoy leisure also has lower stress levels. And I'd suspect this is one reason why the French have ahigher life expectancythan Americans do. This, despite the fact that the French still smoke like it is the 1950s. Indeed, French people don't obsess about dieting, or exercise, the way Americans do---and yet, walking around Paris, one encounters very few overweight people.

The French have a high quality of life. And they're willing to take to the streets to defend their way of life, via massive social protests, if need be.

By contrast, American workers are a bunch of wussies. We let the corporations, the rich and the powerful crap all over us and we don't bother to lift a finger. Over the past 30 years, we've seen our workweeks increase, our average paychecks stagnate and our standard of life deteriorate. And while our nation is going down the toilet, we're too smug, fat, and ignorant of the rest of the world, to notice, or even care.

France is a nation that offers a textbook example of how the U.S. model of deregulation and unbridled, dog-eat-dog capitalism isn't the best way for a society to increase its prosperity and quality of life.

No wonder the NeoCons hate France so much.

Authors Bio:
The creator of the progressive site, BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com, Marc McDonald is an award-winning journalist who worked for 15 years for several Texas newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, before he quit his day job and set up shop in cyberspace in 1995. McDonald's articles have appeared in a number of popular progressive Web sites, including OpEdNews.com, BuzzFlash.com, Crooks and Liars, Salon.com, Progressive Daily Beacon, The Neil Rogers Show and The Raw Story. McDonald's Web articles have also been featured and reviewed by various national and international media, including CNN Headline News, the BBC, the Washington Post, USA Today and many more.