The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Friday, May 27, 2005
A "United States of Europe"? Dream On
It seems the elitist French are almost certainly going to vote down the EU Constitution Sunday, effectively killing the dream of a "United States of Europe". No suprise here: France may a great place for food and wine, but the phrase "united we stand" never has and never will apply to their national psyche.
This is the same country that became "instant Nazis" and assisted with Jewish deportations rather than firing a shot in anger against Hitler; they could hardly be expected to muster real national will, especially if it meant they had to step down from their delusions of Napoleanic grandeur and become a part of something bigger.
The country of France is a has-been, a wonderful, beautiful place to visit if you want to turn back the clock, but a mere shadow of the once grand power that it was. This has never been clearer than over the last 5 years, when they have not only repeatedly bit the hand that freed them from German rule (twice), and kept them from becoming a Soviet puppet state (...and bit that hand because they were being paid off royally by a mass-murderer to do so...)--but by voting "no" they now too are biting the collective hands of their European neighbors who have just been freed from the tyranny of communist rule and long to become a part of a large European democracy. But from where I sit, the end of this "dream" is for the best: the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, and Romanians can do much better without the snooty French albatross dragging them down. And the Brits are no doubt rejoicing that their old foes have once again emerged as a "can't do" nation. Surprise, surprise...
This is the same country that became "instant Nazis" and assisted with Jewish deportations rather than firing a shot in anger against Hitler; they could hardly be expected to muster real national will, especially if it meant they had to step down from their delusions of Napoleanic grandeur and become a part of something bigger.
The country of France is a has-been, a wonderful, beautiful place to visit if you want to turn back the clock, but a mere shadow of the once grand power that it was. This has never been clearer than over the last 5 years, when they have not only repeatedly bit the hand that freed them from German rule (twice), and kept them from becoming a Soviet puppet state (...and bit that hand because they were being paid off royally by a mass-murderer to do so...)--but by voting "no" they now too are biting the collective hands of their European neighbors who have just been freed from the tyranny of communist rule and long to become a part of a large European democracy. But from where I sit, the end of this "dream" is for the best: the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, and Romanians can do much better without the snooty French albatross dragging them down. And the Brits are no doubt rejoicing that their old foes have once again emerged as a "can't do" nation. Surprise, surprise...
