A European’s Warning To America

Daniel Hannan wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on March 12; it appeared on page A15. Mr. Hannan has been a member of the European Parliament for 11 years; he is a Briton. He wrote to warn the United States to avoid the mistakes that the European Union has been making for the past few decades.

Mr. Hannan notes that the United States has been following the European example for several years, i.e., we have embodied in our society and our government higher taxes, less patriotism, a bigger role for state bureaucracy, and a transfer of sovereignty to global institutions. Many Americans seem to genuinely believe that it would be a good idea to make our country less American and more like the rest of the world—namely, more like Europe. These changes are seen as the way to a more comfortable and peaceable way of life.

In America, we have traditionally designed our government to limit the power of the state by recall mechanisms, ballot initiatives, balanced budget rules, open primaries, localism, states’ rights, term limits, the direct election of public officials from the sheriff to the school board. The EU places supreme power in the hands of 27 unelected Commissioners invulnerable to public opinion.

Mr. Hannan notes that as the U.S. applies a European-style economic strategy based on fiscal stimulus, nationalization of businesses, bailouts, and the regulation of private-sector remuneration, unemployment in the U.S. has leaped to European levels.
Legislation in the U.S. is increasingly implemented through executive orders, bypassing the Congress and Senate. In short, we are losing our freedoms to big government.

Many people don’t even see America as a good place to live—can we blame immigrants who come to our shores for refusing to acculturate into American society?

Let’s get back at it, America! Let’s stop this trend toward big government and the “blame America first” attitude. We have a great country! It is worth sustaining and supporting.