Airstrip One

An Unfavourable Comparison - 7th March 2003, 20.56

I have posted in the past on the dysfunctional nature of the potential European constitution in comparison to its tested and superior rival, The Constitution and appurtenances of the United States of America. One may as well compare the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' with 'Kumbayah'.

Patrick Basham and Marion L Tupy of the Cato Institute delve productively into the same territory.

The American Constitution is permeated by the ideas of the Enlightenment and steeped in the desire to be free of foreign and domestic despotism. The EU constitution, in contrast, is written in largely impenetrable legalese and constitutes a politically correct proclamation of bureaucratic folly immersed in the European Left's post-Cold War ideological confusion.

As they point out, positive "rights" limit the freedom of the individual and there is no recognition of property rights, either. How soviet! They conclude that "the new EU constitution preaches federalism while practicing centralized social democracy".

On such a comparison, Americans don't have to try very hard to feel superior, with good reason.