Wednesday, March 16, 2011

EU: Will America learn from Europe’s mistakes?

Or, will America continue to be enamored with the European Union, despite its failed policies and unsound philosophical grounding?


Practical problems of governance abound in the EU. Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France all agree: multiculturalism has failed completely

Look no further than Greece for proof that the cradle-to-grave welfare state is financially unsustainable.

the European Union’s philosophical grounding is diametrically opposed to America’s principles. The EU model assumes the perfectibility of mankind....

To embrace the European Union’s premises about human nature, the purpose of government, and the status of rights, America must shed its own.

America’s way of life is premised on a permanent human nature—not one progressing towards perfection. It is a mix of base and lofty.

With the aid of institutional arrangements, a vigilant and manly spirit, and virtue, men are capable of self-government. The purpose of government is not to create “rights” to various welfare programs:  limited government is necessary to secure natural rights. A self-governing people rejects administrative elites’ advances on their liberty. Its citizens refuse to become “a herd of timid and industrious animals of which the government is the shepherd.”

It is time to abandon our delusions about the European model. 
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/03/16/american-delusionalism/

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