Challenges of the Current Era (Vaclav Klaus, President of Czech Republic, speech at Cato Institute.)

It is a great pleasure to visit again your world-famous institute and to see many friends here. Thank you for the invitation. I met your President Edward Crane 5 weeks ago in Chicago at the Milton Friedman Memorial Service and he said: “the invitation is permanently open”. So I am here.

I came here today as a president of the free and democratic Czech Republic, of a country which – now already more than 17 years ago – succeeded in getting rid of Communism, of a country which quite rapidly, smoothly and without unnecessary additional costs overcame its heritage and transformed itself into a normally functioning European-style parliamentary democracy and market economy, of a country which is an integral part of the free world now, member of NATO and of the European Union, a good friend of the United States of America.

An interesting and important speech, especially in view of current EU-Eastern_European difficulties as well as the current big push from the enviros.

There is a coufusing sentence about half way through the article:

I have always been in favor of friendly, peaceful, and for all of us enriching cooperation and collaboration of European countries. However, I have many times pointed out that the move towards an ever-closer Europe, the so-called deepening of EU, the rapid political integration, and the supranational tendencies without an authentic European identity and an European demos [common population] are not only [not] necessary for the freedom and democracy in Europe, but damaging.

Emphasis is his. Additions are mine.

“There is a coufusing sentence about half way through the article:”

Caveat, I believe he is saying something similar to a feeble attempt at expressing a thought I made this morning which confused at least one person whom read it, so I’ll try to do better this time. In so doing I will state bluntly where he (Vaclav) was attempting eloquence to slide past name calling which is inevitable due the topic, and the sort of mindset (Socialists) he has to address all too often.

He is saying that lumping all cultures into an EU is BS as humanity needs their individual space. Yes there can be a form of Union, but there can be no stripping away of individualism which is represented best by individual States secure in their own culture and recognized as individual.

This would be as I attempt to portray anti Globalization. In other words the World Order dreamed of by those attempting to destroy our own Nations Sovereignty in favor of Globalization say under the Stewardship of the United Nations miss the point of individualism and National Pride.

The concept that we would acclamate to a world, or in the case of the EU an enhanced multicultural society I think he is stating is errant.

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