Government By Department of Transportation

Paul Johnson is one of the world's great treasures - one of our great historians and analysts of history and what it means to the present. A former Labourite and now a classical liberal (read: libertarian conservative), his classic Modern Times was one of the books that prompted me to take the plunge into conservatism.

Today in the Journal he analyzes the problem with Europe.

Oh, there are several:

There is another still more fundamental factor in the EU malaise. Europe has turned its back not only on the U.S. and the future of capitalism, but also on its own historic past. Europe was essentially a creation of the marriage between Greco-Roman culture and Christianity. Brussels has, in effect, repudiated both. There was no mention of Europe's Christian origins in the ill-fated Constitution, and Europe's Strasbourg Parliament has insisted that a practicing Catholic cannot hold office as the EU Justice Commissioner.

Equally, what strikes the observer about the actual workings of Brussels is the stifling, insufferable materialism of their outlook. The last Continental statesman who grasped the historical and cultural context of European unity was Charles de Gaulle. He wanted "the Europe of the Fatherlands (L'Europe des patries)" and at one of his press conferences I recall him referring to "L'Europe de Dante, de Goethe et de Chateaubriand." I interrupted: "Et de Shakespeare, mon General?" He agreed: "Oui! Shakespeare aussi!"

The whole thing is worth a read - as it always is with Johnson.

Posted by Mitch at June 17, 2005 08:28 AM | TrackBack