Following my comments regarding the monstrous European Union in the earlier post about the French edition of Small is Still Beautiful, I came across the following poignant quote from George Will in the latest issue of Chronicles:
“The EU has a flag no one salutes, an anthem no one sings, a president no one can name, a parliament (in Strasbourg) no one other than its members wants to have power, … a capital (Brussels) of coagulated bureaucracy no one admires or controls, … and rules of fiscal behavior no member has been penalized for ignoring.”
Will’s words are true but we should resist the tempation to treat the European Union as a laughing stock, as something not to be taken seriously. The tyrannical bureaucracy of the EU is unwanted, undemocratic, unrepresentative and unprincipled but none of these “weaknesses” prevent it from wielding real and destructive power. The government of the EU is as elusive as Orwell’s Big Brother and as pernicious.
The EU is Robert H. Benson’s nightmare come true. Many others’ nightmares as well.
For Americans, it’s a great loss. Politics and economics aside, the loss is rather personal. It’s increasingly odd to think now of England, France, and so on. They’re all an EU blur. It shouldn’t take more than another generation or two before a German is primarily a European–as I’m an American from Georgia. What’s left of national cultures will be saved into theme parks for tourists.
The global wars of the twentieth century will not have been nearly as destructive. The EU is John Lennon’s “Imagine” dream: Imagine there’s no country, no religion, nothing to kill or die for…. I have always wondered who, why, anyone would want such a dream. Let us eliminate racism by having only one race? Let us eliminate international conflict by having only one nation? Let’s get rid of religious conflict by allowing no religion? Okay. Let’s get rid of all human trouble by allowing no humanity. After all, mutual respect is too much work. Good will toward others is impossible–let’s just give up.