Europe's Problem – and Ours: Will the EU choose collectivism over individualism? Will we?

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | March 21, 2005 | Pete du Pont

[quidnunc]

Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, was recently in Washington to meet with President Bush and release his new book, "On the Road to Democracy." When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Velvet Revolution came to Czechoslovakia, Mr. Klaus became finance minister in the new democracy. He became prime minister in 1992, and later president. His market principles replaced communism with freedom and choice; he liberated prices and foreign trade, deregulated markets and privatized state ownership of assets. Communism was dismantled and prosperity came to his country.

But now President Klaus sees an unsettling new challenge: the zeal of Old Europe — France, Germany, Brussels — to impose collective choices on New Europe — Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Ireland. "Ten years ago," Mr. Klaus writes, "the dominant slogan was: 'deregulate, liberalize, privatize.' Now the slogan is different; 'regulate … get rid of your sovereignty and put it in the hands of international institutions and organizations.' "

"The current European unification process is not predominantly about opening up," he continues, "It is about introducing massive regulation and protection, about imposing uniform rules, laws, and policies." It is about a "rush into the European Union which is currently the most visible and the most powerful embodiment of ambition to create something else — supposedly better — than a free society."

The force that is creating these pressures is indeed the European Union. …

[clee1]

Europe already has. We will follow their lead at our peril and over my dead body.

[EagleUSA]

Europe already has. We will follow their lead at our peril and over my dead body.
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Absolutely. They did a long time ago. That is the core dogma of the EU....I wonder where this writer has been over the past decade ??? :-)

[clee1]

The same place all liberals are; with their head up their assets.

[dk/coro]

This is indeed a compelling issue for debate.

Over the past year I was involved in a graduate level seminar keyed to a discussion of Sam Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations". In the course of the seminars, the collectivism and social engineering inherent in the fabric of the European Union was discussed at some length. (As well as the pending demise of Western Democracy in Europe under the unrelenting Islamist immigration/birthrate onslaught.

My gut feeling is that Huntington is indeed right on the money. Mankind is inherently selfish, greedy, and warlike.
Sustainable collective national arrangements are a fabric of idealistic wishful thinking. (Richard Holbrooke, Strobe Talbott, David Gergen and Slick Willie come to mind. *S* )


Accordingly, there is no possible way the concert of Nation States envisioned by the EU ideologues can sustain itself in the face of mankind's divisive tribal/cultural and religious strivings. Man's selfishness will prevail; and the EU will be in the dustbin of history, rather sooner than later.

Regarding the United States, IMO, we are concurrently threatened by an extremely nationalistic and culturally unassimilated Latin American invasion that will ultimately portend some type of dissolution of the Union as we know it today. Only a question of time.

Demographics is a cruel arbiter!

Counterpoint, fellow freepers?

[Bogolyubski]

Glad to see that Mr. Van Winkle is awakening from his little nap.

[Bogolyubski]

Nationalism is part of human nature. To take a biblical view, God himself ordained mankind's split into nations at the Tower of Babel. The only way this natural desire can be overcome is through a totalitarian regime, which is what is being established in Europe right now. How long it will last, if even established in full, is anyone's guess. Even the Soviet state, fully utopian and universalist in outlook, reverted to calls to defend the motherland upon Hitler's nearly successful invasion.

One of the features common to leftist Utopians of all stripes is the push for dssolution of national sovereignty. I agree with your assertion that this country will ultimately be split into more than one nation. Once the number of "la Raza" is sufficient, they will split from the Gringo US, the Anglo culture they utterly disdain. California and the Southwest will either merge with Mexico or break off with several Mexican states to form a new country.

[familyop]

"Will we?"

We have an enormous bureaucracy to entice women to divorce, men and women to stay single, and the funding is under many names and offices. Such expensive (while diversified) bureaucracy is absolutely necessary for such practice to continue. Long term, exaggerated media focus specifically on men who are villains goes on in order to gather support for even more such bureaucracy.

So yes, we're going there.

[philman_36]

A subject in which we're both interested.
Seems like it is gathering speed and is more noticable as the rush to implement the end result comes closer.
Damn those timetables. The trains must run on time, no matter who or what they run over!

[hedgetrimmer]

I agree. In the next couple of years we will see more and more egregious actions toward the sovereignty of all nations. Sadly, its time for the American people to decide her fate, and because of the acceptance of globalization by the media, I don't think most Americans even know that we are teetering on a terrible precipice.

Thanks for pinging me on this thread.

[philman_36]

In the next couple of years we will see more and more egregious actions toward the sovereignty of all nations.
LOL, I'm seeing them now! It'll just become more obvious and blatant in the next couple of years...especially depending on who gets on the Security Councel and who wins our next presidential election.
Thanks for pinging me on this thread.
No problema.
...I don't think most Americans even know that we are teetering on a terrible precipice.
We've got several of them that we're teetering on. Did you by chance see my reply 34 on the global water tax thread? I saw that you had already been on the thread so I didn't ping you to it.
With slow erosion they keep washing away at the ever diminishing stone.