BY CHRISTOPHER ADAMO – Those who ascribe to such quaint and sentimental notions as national sovereignty and cultural cohesiveness would certainly not shed any tears over the demise of the European Union. Once praised as the gleaming example of the new order, it now teeters on total collapse. And in an inarguable statement on the reality of the human condition, its travails do not involve any irreconcilable conflict of altruistic philosophies, or contrasting visions of the future ascendancy of civilization. Rather, the widening rift among its members centers on the comparatively prosaic issue of money.
More specifically, those people on the street are being confronted by the harsh realities of having to eventually pay the bill for their promised socialist utopia. And on both sides of the equation, they are not happy about it. Those who were once told they could expect a free lunch in perpetuity, but now face the grim prospect of having to put in a good day’s work for a fair day’s wages, have concluded instead that riots and violence in the public square can somehow make those elusive Euros magically fall from the sky. Thus, the pandemonium in Athens Greece, to name just one example, represents the best efforts of hapless citizens, too long accustomed to reaping the fruits of other peoples’ labor, to continue their parasitic existence with no expectation of accountability.
On the other end of the scale, stable and productive countries such as Germany, which have paid far more than their fair share just to keep the European Union scheme on life support, are slowly coming to the realization that they will have to make such sacrifices on an ever increasing scale, in order to have any hope of holding things together. Unfortunately for them, human nature is what it is, and as time goes on more people will realize that it is easier to ride the cart than to pull it. And if some idealistic countries are congenial to accepting this travesty and thereby enable it to breach national boundaries, then of course the field of willing takers will expand beyond anyone’s worst fears.
In light of these circumstances, it is not at all difficult to foresee the end game, the specifics of which were inevitable from before the European Union monstrosity was ever conceived. An increasing number of people demanding “benefits” from their respective governments means that ever larger taxes will be likewise demanded from those segments of society still capable of paying the bills. Recipients of those monies, having done nothing to earn them, essentially devalue the currency in general. Eventually, not enough of anything is being produced to keep funding this vicious cycle, so it collapses.
Efforts to stave off such a collapse through austerity, venomously opposed by the dependent citizenry, will be diluted or completely stalled, thus averting the only viable fix. Conversely, the repeated decisions among European leaders to continue any portion of the funding will at best only delay the inevitable, while vastly increasing the magnitude of the implosion once it eventuates. Thus the monotonously repetitive news reports from across the Atlantic, alternately blaring alarmist reports of riots one day, followed by “high level meetings” among heads of state the next, can properly be interpreted as an impotent band of national leaders desperately seeking to cure an irreparable situation.
Ironically, European socialism was long held up to America as the model for how the nanny state could be successfully implemented. Any attempts of fiscally responsible office holders to warn of the infeasibility of unfettered socialism were immediately countered with chastisements that if the Europeans could succeed, it should be just as feasible over here. And now, at the very moment of Europe’s lifecycle that its leftist chickens are coming home to roost, America finds itself in the clutches of an autocratic regime that endeavors to pitch this nation headlong into the socialist mire.
However, while many similarities between the two situations exist, certain ominous contrasts may ultimately prove to be more noteworthy. To begin with, the current fiscal meltdown in Europe, calamitous though it may be, is nonetheless taking place among nations that are allies. In recent decades, no determined effort has been made by any one of those nations to militarily dominate another. Nor has any serious sentiment for doing so existed in their midst since the day the allies rolled into Berlin in 1945.
Unfortunately, America does not find itself in anywhere near as benign of a place in which to financially crumble. While Greece’s debts are being underwritten by the Germans and French, America increasingly finds itself beholden to the still very Red Chinese. Every dollar cast down the rat hole of state-funded liberal “compassion” renders America that much more beholden and subservient to China. As a result, America’s slothful class enjoys ongoing federal provision while the Chinese reap increasing revenues with which to modernize and expand their military, while growing their business base throughout the world.
Were Barack Obama truly concerned about the ramifications of the nation’s current course (a notion that, in light of his actions of the past three years, is admittedly absurd on its face), he would be doing his best to disentangle the American people from their ever deepening dependence on the federal government. Yet he is undeniably doing exactly the opposite. At a time when any sincere relaxation of the federal tentacles could spur an economic rebound, he insists that only increased government involvement, control, and subsidies can provide the necessary impetus to get the economy rolling again. And we have only to look across the Atlantic to see where his disastrous policies will lead.
If allowed to press forward with his agenda, he will ensure that as Europe goes, so goes America.