2 to the tushy
From the wailing and gnashing of teeth in Brussels, one would think the two failed referendums on the so-called constitution of the European Union were two stakes through the vampire's chest. But as the Danish vote on Maastricht and the Irish vote on Nice previously demonstrated, European voters can stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast.
Born in shadow, nurtured in deception, the European Union has been a pack of lies from the very start. Intentions of a monetary union were denied when it was nothing but a free-trade zone. Once that was accomplished, the Europhile political elite swore up and down that the slightest inkling of a notion of political union had not even dreamed of crossing their collectivist mind.
But soon enough, it became clear that this, too, was a lie. It's hard to say when Europeans - always slow to recognize tyrants - began to realize this. It might have been when it was reported that 80 percent of the United Kingdom's new laws were being dictated to the British Parliament by the unelected European Commission. Or perhaps it was when the citizens of Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Latvia, Greece, Italy and Germany learned that they would have no say in accepting the complete surrender of their national sovereignty, except through those trustworthy voices of their national legislatures.
Nor has the fact that the euro - far from aiding Europe's competitiveness as advertised, has proven downright detrimental to nearly every European country that adopted it - convinced anyone of Brussels' trustworthiness.
The American media has made much of the supposed irony that the French rejection of the E.U. constitution was due to its failure to provide enough socialism, as if the matter at hand was one of free trade and French disdain for unfettered capitalism. But this is a profoundly misguided analysis, as even a brief perusal of the treaty suffices to demonstrate that it has next to nothing to do with economic philosophies of any kind and everything to do with the structure of political power.
The central point of the two referendums did not revolve around how the French and the Dutch wish to order their societies, but whether they wished to continue governing themselves in the Western democratic tradition or if they were ready to abandon it in favor of an unelected external oligarchy. The answer, as it will be understood by the governing elite is this: Not yet.
As everyone who has ever voted against a school levy knows, the nature of government at all levels is to continuously expand. As long as passing new laws is viewed as productivity by politicians, as "getting things done," there will be a natural impetus for government to expand. The problem for Europe's politicians is that their governments have already intruded into the national economies about as far as they can without engendering a collapse. After all, with only 24 hours in the day, there is a finite limit to the amount of activity one can dictate.
The European Union, with its higher level of centralization, offered a rare growth opportunity to the political class and it should surprise no one that they rushed to sell out their countries in order to grasp it. When a man is drowning, he will clutch at anything thrown to him, even an anchor that will sink him faster than before. But it is this very desperation that will compel the national politicians to return again and again to the question of continued European integration - by force, if necessary.
It is a pity that the two referendums are unlikely to prove sufficient to end the monstrous experiment. A unified Europe was not desirable under Philip II of Spain, Napoleon Bonaparte or Adolf Hitler. It is no more desirable today, for all that the would-be rulers are wise enough to use central banks instead of tanks.
But the politicians have learned. It may take years, even decades, to return to the subject, but the next time it is broached, I rather expect that the people of France and the Netherlands will not be permitted to crassly interfere with the grand schemes of their masters.