Emulate Germany?  That’s the constant refrain of the Left and of their Progressive-Democratic Party.  After all, Germany is running large budget surpluses, taking the second largest bite out of German wages of all the OECD nations, at nearly 50%, overcoming government spending running 45% of GDP.  Here is an indication of the contempt with which German politicians—both “conservative” and Leftist—view German citizens:

[T]he perception of tax cuts in the country’s political mainstream ranges from slightly shameful to outright evil. Many conservatives see them as overindulgent toward voters, while the center-left views them as morally indefensible gifts to the rich. All parties, with the exception of the pro-business Free Democrats, favor a high degree of redistribution.

“You need high taxes in order to be civilized,” said Sven Giegold, who represents Germany’s Green Party in the European Parliament. “We are very far away from the government having too much money.”

It seems Germans, like Herb Croly’s Americans, are morally and intellectually inadequate to serious and consistent conception of [their] responsibilities as…democrat[s].

And we should be like them.  Sure.