Creeping Socialization ... of Kisses?

Henry Farrell's got a long post dismissing claims that the Obama administration's economic policies are turning the U.S. toward the European state-socialist model.

As Henry notes at the post, Obama's policies "aren’t going to set the US on a different national trajectory, let alone make it ‘French’ or ‘European.’ Some of us might like to see this happen, but it isn’t going to, even given the ideological trauma that the US is undergoing."

Now, I don't have time right now to disabuse Henry of this notion that the U.S. is not becoming more like Europe during the current crisis (things seemed overdetermined, actually, and it's not just in the economic realm), although if the convergence can be measured in other ways, perhaps the "socialization of kisses" might be in interesting place to start. Henry's co-blogger, Maria, has this about the changing norms of social kissing:

I do a fair bit of cheek-kissing and hugging, both socially and at work, probably more than most but not unusually so (I haven’t had any complaints yet). It’s really come in amongst the anglo-saxons in the past decade or so. Time was when only the French did cheek-kissing when they met. Perhaps as the result of many forlorn French exchange summers, or maybe just aping our more sophisticated Continental neighbours, the Irish and British middle classes began to do single-cheek kissing in the eighties and nineties.

I kiss a French person once on each cheek (twice if they’re a close friend or family friend), three times in total for a Belgian or Dutch person, and just one single-cheeked peck for a fellow anglo-saxon. In the last few years, a new variation has crept in. Married men who kiss me – just a peck – on the lips.

From the comments, Jacob Christensen responds:

First [socialized] health care and now kissing. It looks like the French really are trying to turn the US into the 101st département.

Next thing, you’ll be making wine ...

Well, if "just a peck – on the lips" accompanies traditional European-style "welfare-state unemployment," maybe convergence might not be such a bad thing after all?