A Realm, But Not A State

The E.U. is trying to become one super-state, but not one economy. The two concepts can't be divorced form one another.


The left in France has been using caustic cultural characterizations to shoot down the liberalization of labour markets, the German left has been using a fear of the East. Belgium is doing the same.

In Europe the hatred of the other is more politely referred to as "suspicion" now, but nothing has changed in a millennium. Ironically using the term "Anglo-Saxon Economy" as an insult, the left in France is colluding with the left in Germany to sink policies on work. The policy would permit the free migration of services across the former frontiers. The free movement of goods and working people is stilted and artificial without the component of services. A better quality of life for the greatest number was the goal of erasing those borders from the map, not maintaining it for a select group of special interests such as farmers, and particular unionized sectors with extrordinary power. Their members are a sort of "super-citizen" that makes a mockery of the concept of citizenship itself.

Writing in Tech Central Station, Silvain Charat gives us an outline of the causes:

«Strengthening individual rights and promoting free trade are not public policy priorities in France. State rights and intervention are high up on the political agenda whether it be from the Right or the Left. All political and economic measures have a common point: market control.»

What sort of nation is the E.U.? Didn't they already reject the idea of a set of city-states or loose confederation of states are unviable? The first blow to the economic future was the snuffing of tax competition. It was their only hope in half a century to readjust and adapt to a more equitable and efficient economic model and treatment of working people. It may be that last one that they have if they want to do it without heart paddles, and quite frankly was the last chance to peacefully tame the aristocratic caste which "manages" a great many aspects of society which free will does a nice job of everywhere else in the world.

«In the mind of the believer in liberty, if one is not trustworthy, their time will come soon enough when the rest of society punishes them. In other words, a free society is its own cure for mutual distrust.»

The missing element is a trust in human decency, accepting that self-interest is not a synonym of harmful bad impulses, and that people are interested in a having a stake in a civilized society, and are curious enough to advance knoledge without restraint. This trust in people is akin to parenting - which itself might be the next "lost concept".

As the American historian Victor David Hanson has said repeatedly: if the E.U. want to be one nation, it must hve one set of policies, one military, and one seat on the U.N. Security Council. He's right. It's an implausible construct to have both ways.

Evidently they the term "In for a penny, in for a pound" doesn't have an exchange rate into Euros.