As IF Times

Fast forward to today and the difference between the European Union and the United States experience is stark.  Even though both are considered ‘western’ politically, America, at its core, continues to champion the idea of freedom and self-determination, whereas the European Union have come almost full circle to the authoritarian/monarchial roots of their founding states.  The reality is that regional differences are so significant amongst member states that any one size fits all dictate from a centralized government causes havoc instead of harmony.  As we write, there are virulent protests in France and Germany against EU policies which cripple their agricultural industries.

But perhaps the most telling aspect of the EU regime is that they have become the regime that they sought to replace.  Rather than being a mechanism of freedom and prosperity for the nations, they have become purveyors of dictatorial edicts under the guise of collective good. It becomes increasingly evident that their existence is perpetuation of the administrative body itself rather than to further the interests of the member states….not unlike a monarchy.  The mindset of the EU is aptly represented by the World Economic Forum, a cabal of wealthy megalomaniacs who purport to know what’s best for everyone.  In fact, the leadership of the EU and the WEF are essentially one and the same. While we’re at it, let’s throw NATO in there.  An illustration of the stark difference in their mindset versus that which is espoused in the US is “you will own nothing and be happy”.   That’s as much a Dr. Evil pronouncement as you’ll ever hear.  In their worldview, people are subjects to be dictated to by those in charge.

If you think about the entire construct of the political East vs West argument, the whole argument hinges on the repudiation of what “Eastern” nations such as Russia and China represent, especially state control over every aspect of your life. Even as participants in the latest World Economic Forum lament the ‘decline of democracy’, these very same nations are restricting free elections, preventing free speech and expression and the promotion of collapsing borders.

In the United States, owning your own home is the very pinnacle of living in a free society and is the goal of most citizens.  This is not the goal of the European mindset.  It appears that the mindset there is of conferring and receiving privileges whereas in America, it’s more a notion of opening opportunities.

The recent Greenland issue brings into focus the difference in mindsets.  While Donald Trump is making bellicose overtures towards taking over Greenland, the Dutch and the Greenlanders alike are objecting to any takeover.  Actually, a poll of Greenlanders shows that they would be happy to be independent of EVERYBODY, but prefer to also continue to get free healthcare, education and military safety.  If this sounds familiar, think Canada. The entitlement is on a grand scale.  It’s as if they are teenagers who want Iphones and vacations but are not willing to have to pay for them.

It’s amusing to see the outrage of the once powerful colonial powers such as The Netherlands, France, Spain and the UK over the hegemonic aspirations of the US when they were once and still are to some extent, the greatest land grabbers in history. The leadership of the EU are behaving like modern day monarchs.  Although they were formed to only manage the movement of agricultural products within their member nations, they have morphed to become an autocratic rule making body totally removed from the realities of their own member states.  They restrict speech, impede elections and support on going military conflict against imaginary adversaries. It won’t last.

On a long enough time perspective, you would notice that throughout recorded history, very small groups within a given society controlled the vast majority of their populations.  There have always been hierarchies of influence and power and if you were lucky enough to have been born on the right side of this power dynamic, your life was pretty good.  If you were not so lucky, your life was spent under the dictates of those born on the fortunate side of fate.

So that was how life was for centuries.  This changed in the late 1700’s when a group of British men went across the Atlantic Ocean to eventually create an entirely new nation, completely different in structure to their old political system.  This was the genuine, “no kings” movement that occurred 250 years ago.  This was pretty radical because it was the first large scale repudiation of the entitled, hierarchal system of governance in place everywhere throughout history.  When the old colonial masters in Britain demanded that the new colony pay taxes to support the old regime, the upstart colonies banded together and declared, “nah, we’re good, we’ll keep our money here instead”.

This didn’t sit well with the British colonial empire and thus a war was declared to rein in the upstart colonies.  In the aftermath, a new nation was born, completely separate from the old colonial masters with a distinctly different type of governance.  There truly were no kings and instead a republican form of governance was formed with individuals able to express free will to create laws.

As you’d expect, this rather novel environment of freedom and liberty to choose your own life-path became quite popular and the new American colonies became the desired place for those with ambition and drive.   The United States came to represent the new world of individualism and aspiration as opposed to the old world regimes of collectivism and subjugation.  This new style of government gave rise to the incredible ascent of the United States within only a short time to become the most powerful and influential nation in the world, both economically and socially.   To paraphrase an old cliché, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  In the new United States, there were multitudes of strong links unleashed to make a very strong larger chain.  In the old colonial nations, the strength of the chain was dictated by the monarchs at the top. Thus, nations could only progress as much as the rulers permitted.

To this day, even in the 21^st century, many of the old imperial empires cling to the traditions of Kings and Queens presiding over their subjects.  Parenthetically, this dynamic also exists in the Church, but that’s another discussion. Granted, most of these roles are ceremonial, but nonetheless, such people still occupy positions of wealth and prestige within their nations.  However, most of these nations have adopted the democratic model of the United States so that their government leaders are nominally elected by their citizens.  Still, the transition hasn’t been as robust as in America because of long national traditions and sensibilities.  Whereas the US started from a clean slate, the old imperial powers still wrestled with their legacy influences. For example, the acceptance of collectivism as a mindset is quite strong on most European countries even as they pretend to admire individualism.

In the 1960’s, a few European nations, notably West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands mused that a federation of states would be more effective in countering the continued strength and influence of the United States.  In essence, they began to create the idea of the United States of Europe, or as it was finally called, the European Union, complete with a common currency and laws amongst all members.

It seemed like a great idea….at the time.