The culture war is upon us, so whatever the EU does is secondary. That’s for starters. The left opened up the battle, using so-called “supremacy” as a spurious excuse to attack European identity itself. Thanks to its capture of government, media, entertainment and academe, (and, as Joel Kotkin among others points out, the corporations), it has made great headway in the last few years. Incremental advance has turned into blitzkrieg. The EU itself is under the thumb of the Left thanks to the reddening of the west’s education systems, such that its personnel will be imbued with the “correct” attitudes. Again, it’s a matter of incremental change, at first. No, this is not conspiracy, it’s the tide of fashion modified by a new, proselytising religion. The way in which protestants infiltrated and took over the city states of northern Europe is perhaps the closest model. Others would instance the takeover of Rome by Christianity. And in effect “Woke”, “left modernism” etc are falling into the church shaped hole left by European Christianity in its decline. So to say that the manoeuvrings of the EU are pushing these developments is, in my view, inaccurate. They result from larger forces operating from deeper premises.
Paddy Taylor
2 years ago
“The EU’s plan to defeat Euroscepticism”
Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.
Last edited 2 years ago by Paddy Taylor
Peter LR
2 years ago
Well , what a blessing for us not to have entered the Euro: it was obviously an emasculating poisoned chalice which robs politicians of sufficient ba lls to make real national change.
Rob Britton
2 years ago
Salvini, like Le Pen, has gone mainstream and turned into just another establishment politician. It seems like it is only the UK which has the courage of its convictions and leaves the EU.
Michael James
2 years ago
I hadn’t heard that Hayek was an ancestor of the euro. I thought he advocated currency competition within countries.
Let’s say he advocated a different path to reach the same objective: the denationalisation of money. This is a good speech on the topic by Otmar Issing, former chief economist and member of the board of the ECB: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/1999/html/sp990527.en.html
“Although the path taken to achieve denationalisation of money has been very different than that advocated by Hayek, the ultimate objective being sought by Hayek, i.e., monetary independence from political interference and price stability, have, to all intents and purposes, already been achieved”.
“ he point is the way in which the EU has succeeded in shifting any opposition to itself from the socioeconomic terrain to the identitarian terrain, thus fuelling the very culture wars that are tearing our societies apart.”
Er, what now. How is the EU responsible for an
“identitarian” group of parties hostile to its multicultural stance? How did it shift debate exactly. All of those parties were nationalist to begin with and their economic policies vary.
Cheryl Jones
2 years ago
You want money. The EU gives you a loan. You have to pay that money back. Somehow. The EU now controls you because it holds your debt. Suddenly the EU seems like a great idea to a politician who wants to win votes by spending money.
The culture war is upon us, so whatever the EU does is secondary. That’s for starters. The left opened up the battle, using so-called “supremacy” as a spurious excuse to attack European identity itself. Thanks to its capture of government, media, entertainment and academe, (and, as Joel Kotkin among others points out, the corporations), it has made great headway in the last few years. Incremental advance has turned into blitzkrieg. The EU itself is under the thumb of the Left thanks to the reddening of the west’s education systems, such that its personnel will be imbued with the “correct” attitudes. Again, it’s a matter of incremental change, at first. No, this is not conspiracy, it’s the tide of fashion modified by a new, proselytising religion. The way in which protestants infiltrated and took over the city states of northern Europe is perhaps the closest model. Others would instance the takeover of Rome by Christianity. And in effect “Woke”, “left modernism” etc are falling into the church shaped hole left by European Christianity in its decline. So to say that the manoeuvrings of the EU are pushing these developments is, in my view, inaccurate. They result from larger forces operating from deeper premises.
“The EU’s plan to defeat Euroscepticism”
Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.
Well , what a blessing for us not to have entered the Euro: it was obviously an emasculating poisoned chalice which robs politicians of sufficient ba lls to make real national change.
Salvini, like Le Pen, has gone mainstream and turned into just another establishment politician. It seems like it is only the UK which has the courage of its convictions and leaves the EU.
I hadn’t heard that Hayek was an ancestor of the euro. I thought he advocated currency competition within countries.
Let’s say he advocated a different path to reach the same objective: the denationalisation of money. This is a good speech on the topic by Otmar Issing, former chief economist and member of the board of the ECB: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/1999/html/sp990527.en.html
“Although the path taken to achieve denationalisation of money has been very different than that advocated by Hayek, the ultimate objective being sought by Hayek, i.e., monetary independence from political interference and price stability, have, to all intents and purposes, already been achieved”.
That just means no political decisions in interest rates etc. What’s that got to do with the Euro particularly.
Maybe he meant Bitcoin?
This seems pretty ludicrous.
“ he point is the way in which the EU has succeeded in shifting any opposition to itself from the socioeconomic terrain to the identitarian terrain, thus fuelling the very culture wars that are tearing our societies apart.”
Er, what now. How is the EU responsible for an
“identitarian” group of parties hostile to its multicultural stance? How did it shift debate exactly. All of those parties were nationalist to begin with and their economic policies vary.
You want money. The EU gives you a loan. You have to pay that money back. Somehow. The EU now controls you because it holds your debt. Suddenly the EU seems like a great idea to a politician who wants to win votes by spending money.