Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Well, the Dutch dumped d'Estaing's

micromanaging, special-interest-loving EU Constitution. Makes me proud to be a student of their language.

Oh, yeah. I'm part Dutch, too. [In descending order, I'm Finnish, Irish, Dutch, Swedish, Creek and Cherokee.]
The Netherlands dealt an apparent death blow to the European Union constitution last night, with 63 per cent of the electorate rejecting the treaty, computer projections predicted.
Coming only three days after French voters rejected the constitution, the Dutch No vote was so decisive that the treaty seems to have no future in its current form.

I'm not the kind of American Nationalist who hates the idea of Europe being an effective competitor in the world markets. I want them to compete strongly with us, competition is the greatest force for human development. Peaceful competition, that is, though it wouldn't bother me terribly if they competed more effectively with us in war-making power. America probably could use some humbling in that regard. Standing on the sidelines and shouting insults sure isn't working. You want respect, field a team.

This Constitution won't do it for them.

Look, we need that competition to burn out the dross in our own governance. If they take themselves out of the game with strangling, continent-wide regulations, they're just going to encourage the development of that same mental laziness in our legislators.

Update: Read The Foundation for Economic Education's take.

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