FWIW, I've heard it said that Europeans value social freedoms more, Americans value economic freedoms more. Hence in Europe you have unlimited speed limits (autobahns), no age limit on alcohol, long vacations, and bathing au naturel on the beach, all of which Americans would never tolerate. In America you have large houses, large cars, cheap gas, and very short vacations, all of which Europeans either have no interest or wouldn't tolerate.
This is interesting, although as Bill Potts has pointed out, some of the specific points are not entirely accurate.
Those of us who espouse libertarianism have long divided the political spectrum on two axes: social freedom and economic freedom, rather than just left-liberal and right-conservative. You can even take a short 10-question quiz and see where you land on this two-dimensional spectrum:
http://www.self-gov.org/ (world's smallest political quiz, right on the home page; I score 100/100 -- right at the top apex))
What I find interesting is that some members of this forum so readily presume that right-conservative (meaning limited social freedom) translates into anti-metric. And I see absolutely NO evidence of that.
What I DO see evidence of is that conservatives and libertarians are both in favor of economic freedom, and therefore against forced metrication. And, those who do not value economic freedom see that as anti-metric, which it most assuredly is not.
Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
