I’m old enough to remember the promises of the “Common Market” as they called it back then:
1) All of Europe to sell your goods to, without tariffs
2) All of Europe to buy goods from, without tariffs
3) Virtually no internal borders - then none at all
4) A single currency
Sounds wonderful, and could have been - which is why it had so much support there.
Now look what it is:
1) Dictatorial role from Brussels (really Germany), via unelected people
2) Open external borders causing repopulation of the entire continent from the Third World
3) An army of people in Brussels writing regulation after regulation, such as 100 of them on a toothbrush (as noted above)
4) Censorship of the media and individuals, along with ‘hate crime’ laws which prevent debate
5) Vilification (or worse, including imprisonment) of those who object to the above, including politicians trying to end that crap
Now that they see the monster they allowed to be created, can the people, will the people, do anything about it?
And while I agree and hate to see Europe to go in that direction of more and greater centralization, us talking about that is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
We are probably more centralized/top down than the Russians today, and that is no joke.
We censor.
We open our borders.
We have all sorts of rules that even violate the first 10 Amendments (Bill of rights - every single one has been abridged)
We have armies of federal bureaucrats that right what is enforced with the power of the law (tax and guns if needed): FAA, FCC, FTC, OSHA, EPA, FDA, ATF, DEA, FBI, USPS, DE... Heck, the Social Security Administration has armed agents in this country. Everyone makes rules, lots and lots of rules.
No joke: Just federally, “the law” spans 51 volumes, covers over 3,000 various offenses with over 23,000 pages. The average American breaks no less than 3 laws by the time they get to work, even if they don’t know it.
I agree with you that it’s sad to see them slip into this centralized top down mess, but where do you think we live? In a free and private economy? In a decentralized union of states? In a place where the first 10 Amendments are truly constitutionally guaranteed and holy, not to be over stepped by anyone? You must not be living in the US?