By Selwyn Duke

Over at JBS.org, Ann Shibler has an excellent piece about the European Union’s imminent arm-twisting of Ireland into acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty.  As some of you may know, the Irish recently rejected the treaty via a referendum, one in which 53.4 percent of the voters said nay (the margin was almost 7 points).  As to why, Shibler provides a little background:

The Treaty would have instituted a stronger foreign policy chief, a mutual defense pact, and long-term president of the EU.

It
is these items that the people of Ireland would not accept. Surely they
know that once the Treaty is ratified, the commissars in charge can
change anything without ever asking again, so any guarantees are straws
in the wind.

Yet it seems that Europe just won’t take no for an answer.  In fact, Shibler writes, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel took the following outrageous position:

In a publicized joint statement they said they regretted Ireland’s ‘democratic decision.’ But sources close to France’s Sarkozy, who is
also the president-elect of the EU, and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, said that there are only two solutions: for the Irish to vote
again, or ‘for an as yet undefined legal mechanism to bind Ireland to
EU institutions if Ireland does not ratify the treaty.’

Ah, the euphemisms of tyranny, a "yet undefined legal mechanism."  In other words, the EU is like the mafia, in that you’re in for life.  The will of the Irish people doesn’t matter, the nation’s sovereignty doesn’t matter; one way or another, the EU is going to impose its will on all the member (captive?) states.

And what really is the point of having another referendum?  Is it not just going through the motions?  The EU is making it eminently clear that if the vote doesn’t go their way, they’ll just do an end-run around the will of the people.  It much reminds me of the leftists in our country, who, when they can’t achieve their aims at the ballot box, simply find sympathetic judges to rule the will of the people "unconstitutional."

In this is a lesson about the dangers of consolidation of national powers.  As the history of man has proven, governing bodies — be they autocratic or wearing the guise of democracy — don’t relinquish power and control willingly once achieving them.  Just think of American history, for instance.  Our states joined the union willingly, but what happened when they wanted to secede?  (Whether or not you think the Confederacy’s secession was prudent, the fact remains that nothing in the Constitution forbade such an action.)  Or think about the former Soviet Union and its renegade republics; they had every moral right to self-determination, but it took the collapse of the evil empire for them to be able to exercise it.

This situation serves as a warning to us.  We must safeguard our sovereignty at all costs.  The more we consolidate elements of our government with those of other nations — be it in the name of security, economics or something else (with Mexico and Canada or other countries) — the closer we get to a situation in which we may be subject to the dictation of international bodies bent on perpetuating power.   The European Union or "North American Union" may sound innocuous enough, but remember that our nation started as a "union" of states.  Yet the federal government has now assumed so much power that we’re more a nation state than a nation of states.

Also remember the one great exception to the rule that it’s easier to destroy than create: Big government programs, initiatives and schemes.  Ireland is perhaps learning this, as she now finds herself in the Hotel California.

She can check out any time she likes, but she can never leave.

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