Posted on 06/15/2005 9:16:40 AM PDT by quidnunc
Europe as we know it is slowly going out of business. Since French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed constitution of the European Union, we've heard countless theories as to why: the unreality of trying to forge 25 E.U. countries into a United States of Europe; fear of ceding excessive power to Brussels, the E.U. capital; and an irrational backlash against globalization. Whatever their truth, these theories miss a larger reality: Unless Europe reverses two trends — low birthrates and meager economic growth — it faces a bleak future of rising domestic discontent and falling global power. Actually, that future has already arrived.
Ever since 1498, after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and opened trade to the Far East, Europe has shaped global history, for good and ill. It settled North and South America, invented modern science, led the Industrial Revolution, oversaw the slave trade, created huge colonial empires, and unleashed the world's two most destructive wars. This pivotal Europe is now vanishing — and not merely because it's overshadowed by Asia and the United States.
-snip-
All this is bad for Europe — and the United States. A weak European economy is one reason that the world economy is shaky and so dependent on American growth. Preoccupied with divisions at home, Europe is history's has-been. It isn't a strong American ally, not simply because it disagrees with some U.S. policies but also because it doesn't want to make the commitments required of a strong ally. Unwilling to address their genuine problems, Europeans become more reflexively critical of America. This gives the impression that they're active on the world stage, even as they're quietly acquiescing in their own decline.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Some would say the decline of Europe started in the 1940s, about the same time as America started to dominate. I wonder why???
Good article.
If the leftist libbies had their way, we would be sharing the same fate as them. I just can't believe how close we came to Kerry being elected and this would be happening to us right now.
The US was the only major power to emerge from WWII with its infrastructure and economy intact..
Wow, the truth packed into that one concluding sentence is pretty compelling, isn't it?
Ping
Typical lefty. Anyone who disagrees with their world view is 'irrational'.
Well said, but a distinction should always be made between western and eastern Europe. The eastern Europeans seem to be a tougher breed. For some reason - no one seems to know quite why - Poland experienced a baby boom in the 1980's and is now blessed with a youthful cohort coming of age at a time when youth in western Europe is a vanishing resource. One of the pleasures of visiting Poland is to see the abundance of young people.
A true statement.
It is also true that the US rebuilt Japan and Germany and sheltered all of Europe from normal costs of Defense for over 50 decades.
Japan recovered to such a great extent that in the 1980's we thought they were going to eat our lunch.
But Europe never recovered to such an extent. It wasn't the War that carried her off. It was the socialist coffin they carried her off in.
Japan was devastated, yet they are totally socialist. The War isn't a factor. The main factor is people get elected to government and impose socialism upon their citizens. They purposely choke capitalism and dumb down their populace. Low birth rates are due to high taxes and feminism. The left in American can't wait to send us down the same road. The left is quite strong around the world. I don't seen many social programs being reduced anywhere in the world. I don't seen government being rolled back anywhere. The left will destroy this Republic, unless we destroy the left first.
Would a "Back to Europe" movement perhaps be a good idea? I would love to romp in the olive groves of my ancestral Calabrian homeland.
Our great Republic is due primarily to our Founders. They sought to bind down men of mischief with the chains of the Constitution. Unfortunately for about 100 years the left and been relentless in trying to purposely destroy this Republic and morph it into a balkanized Socialist hell. Europe is almost over the brink. If the left have their way, we shall follow. I don't see a Republican leader for 08 who truly understands what is at stake. The socialist policies of the left is killing this country and all we here is how the rich are growing richer.
should be.... yet they aren't totally socialist....
a weak european ecconomy is NOT bad for the USA.
The EU is trying to become the regulatory force of THE world.
IOW USA regulations are irrelevant, obey EU rules. Or worse you now have TWO groups of pencil pushers to overcome.
When the EU as a regulatory force collapses, THEN europe will be able to recover.
Re: Back to Europe. Italy permits dual citizenship. I lived there for a year and I know a number of Americans there who enjoy the benefits of having an ancestral claim to live in that wonderful country.
It IS happening here, right now. We are simply not reproducing, political correctness and unrestricted immigration will take care of the rest. Change is constant and ongoing, it will accelerate under the libs and we will continue our slide into the gutter. Sorry to be so negative but evolution is constant too.
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