Editor's Note: We're No. 2!

The devastation caused by the tsunami in South Asia is so vast and the images so vivid that it simply cannot be ignored half a world away. Yet that is our nation's usual response to tragedy and other major news events beyond our borders. The United States is a nation focused inward and largely ignorant of the rest of the world.

Despite our strong genetic and historical bonds with Europe, we are equally oblivious to what's been happening there in recent decades. Some of us listen to BBC News on NPR once in a while, and some of us can't get enough British royalty melodrama, but other than that we see Europe as the Old World, populated by English castles, German concentration camps and French snootiness.

Reality, naturally, is quite a bit different. In his new book, The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy, T.R. Reid provides a concise overview of modern Europe that should serve as a wake-up call to America's self-obsessed. As the book's title suggests, Europe has become a highly integrated collection of countries working together to build an international economic powerhouse. After hundreds of years of bloody wars and bitter feuding, European countries are united today, and collectively they have more people, more wealth and more trade than the United States. The euro, not the dollar, is the world's strongest currency. Europe, not the United States, controls regulations governing global industry. The European Union, based in Brussels, frequently stands up to U.S. corporations, rejecting their bullying tactics and requiring them to follow regulations if they want to conduct business outside America.

Reid's most entertaining chapter points out that many popular "American" products are actually products made or owned by European companies. Here's a very short list: Dodge vehicles, Holiday Inn hotels, Dr Pepper and Snapple soft drinks, Verizon cell network, Nokia cell phones, Dove soap, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Brooks Brothers clothes, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, the Chicago Sun-Times and New York Post newspapers, Random House books.

The book also debunks the common American perception that Europe is bogged down by high taxes and bureaucracy. On the contrary, Reid notes, Europeans take pride in their social model, which "protects everyone in Europe against the vicissitudes of contemporary life." As a result of these efforts, Europeans have free or low-cost health care, free university education, low poverty rates and a sensible approach to drug abuse, generally favoring treatment over punishment. Europe also boasts fast highways, an extensive transit network and cheap airfare.

What motivates the New Europe? Competition with the United States, primarily. "The sheer pleasure that Europeans take in denigrating America has become another bond unifying the continent," Reid writes. This division was exacerbated by the Iraq war. President Bush's arrogant, with-us-or-against-us approach sparked massive protests in Europe, where the U.S. is widely regarded as a "bull in the global china shop." The European Union sees itself as a "counterweight to the American brute," and the more the United States pisses off the world with its cavalier cowboy antics, the more the world turns to Europe as the model for civility and democracy.

The United States is the world's sole superpower only in military terms, and we've experienced the mixed success that a military approach has in global conflicts. We're sliding toward No. 2 economically, and headed toward No. 3 with China's massive resources and rapid modernization. What does America have left to offer the world? We don't make much anymore. We're no longer the clearcut technology leader. Our most enticing products today seem to be McDonald's, Hollywood and Las Vegas.

Some have criticized Reid's analysis as overly simplified. They argue that Europe isn't quite as unified or powerful as he suggests. But everyone seems to agree on this: Americans need to get better educated on global realities. We were able to adopt a provincial view in the past, when Europe was a mess and China was a Third World country, but if we want to remain on top in the 21st century, we'll have to adopt a more progressive, global outlook. Or else get comfortable with the idea of being No. 2. Or No. 3.

Transit now

The Regional Transportation Commission is moving forward with plans for a 33-mile commuter rail system from Henderson to North Las Vegas. The RTC recently held several public meetings to unveil the proposal to use existing Union Pacific Railroad tracks for the transit system, which, depending on what technology is used, would cost from $300 million to $800 million. Half the money would come from the federal government.

This project holds great promise to expand mass transit use beyond the traditional customers of the bus system. Citizens Area Transit keeps plenty busy serving the needs of thousands of people who don't have cars. But CAT, which can be time consuming and inconvenient, does not appeal to those with the ability to drive themselves. This rail line would provide an attractive option for those facing a long daily commute.

My only complaint is the timetable. The RTC projects that construction would start in 2009 and the system would open in 2012--eight years from now. Long-range planning is commendable, but couldn't this project be expedited a bit? Is it unreasonable to think that Harry Reid, the high-powered Senate minority leader, could push through a pile of federal funding in the next year or two? Mass transit projects are complicated--just ask the beleaguered monorail folks--but eight years seems too long to wait for the commuter rail.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER