For years, European Union advocates denied allegations that they were trying to erase national borders and create a single country with a shared military. Then recently proposals for a single military emerged — just before Britain left the EU. One of the most effective criticisms made against the EU before Brexit was to challenge voters to actually name the people in charge of the EU and policies affecting their lives. Now, the head of the EU has gone out of his way to confirm the worst suspicions of critics. The much-maligned EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker has publicly denounced the very concept of national borders as the “worst invention ever.”
We recently discussed Juncker drunken appearances in public. Now he is proclaiming the very globalism and world government that is fueling demands to break up the EU. Speaking at the Alpbach Media Academy Juncker said: “Borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians.”
Juncker’s contempt for the notion of national identity is a touchstone of the new globalism that has taken hold in Europe — and encouraged voters in Britain to leave the EU. Many people have a pride in their national identity and want to control the laws that govern their nation and their lives. The image of a drunken, dismissive uber-bureaucrat in Brussels will hardly improve the situation for the EU. It also shows precisely how little accountability or restraint EU leadership feel in Brussels. The arrogance and erratic behavior of Juncker would not be tolerated in a politician who was subject to local or national elections. However, his audience often seems a circle of EU bureaucrats in an echo-chamber for globalism. The feel for civil libertarians is that such remoteness couple with rising power can be a threat to not just national identity but liberty.
Reprinted with permission from JonathanTurley.org.
