Liberty's Calling

Fire of Liberty

William Rees-Mogg has a wonderful piece in The Times on the future that awaits the EU with the "No" vote in France and Holland. In his column, Rees-Mogg notes that while the European nation's general public have demonstrated its euro-skeptic sentiments, the elites running the show will continue to use their various institutions to push their will on the people. Just take a peek at his column:

However, triumphalism can only last so long — 24 hours is usually quite long enough. There still remains the issue of the future of Europe; despite the votes of France and the Netherlands, and the shift of the whole mood of Europe, these votes have decided only one thing. The proposed European constitution is not acceptable to the people of Europe, when they are allowed a vote.

The constitution is dead, but the project which created it is still alive. So are the institutions, the Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice. All of them will continue to try to maximise their own authority, at the expense of the people and of the national parliaments.

When the French voted "“non”," Europe was not on a high road to a democratic and liberal future, but was marching towards a bureaucratically controlled society, with high taxes, high costs and gross overregulation. All that has happened — and it is a great deal — is that the French voters have thrown up a road block. The European army has been halted on the road, but most of its marshals still believe that the ultimate destination is the bureaucratic prison camp that most of the peoples of Europe detest.

Though the elites have envisioned a political Europe with its powercenter in Brussels, they have failed to respect the individual rights of the people who live in their own sovereign nations who see and things from various perspectives than other nation which make up the 25 member states. I think Rees-Mogg put it best when he concluded:

The European countries already have their own systems of democracy. They are best qualified to decide the social arrangements that suit them best. The French are prepared to pay the price of French social welfare; the British are prepared to work longer hours. These decisions are for them and for us. The European Union, particularly since the disastrous Maastricht treaty, has invaded the space of the European nations. We need to cut it back to size — and its natural size is that of a common market.

Well said, carry on you valiant warrior of liberty and sovereignty.