West of FantAsia

I don't know who these people are, but I don't much like em.

The European Community Organizing Network (ECON)
no link on purpose

"The rise of xenophopic and nationalist forces in all parts of Europe, and the erosion -- or collapse -- of the traditional political consensus, present difficult terrain for all of us involved in building civil society on the continent."

They're telling me that we don't need nations, we need superstates. They're saying that people who still think in terms of nations are bad people, and people who think in terms of Europe as superstate are okay.

For most of the people who accept that view, it is a fantasy. We have no actual experience with superstates. On the other hand, the only thing that's obvious is that when you have a near-superstate, like the USA or the EU, it only wants to get bigger.

That's what NAFTA was, a move in the direction of greater integration and consolidation of nations. And that's what the European Coal and Steel Community was for Europe in 1951, and the European Economic Community in 1957, the Common Market. And the 1973 enlargement, and the 1986 enlargement, and the European Union in 1993, and the subsequent enlargements of that union.

For that matter, that's what the World Trade Organization is, a move in the direction of greater integration and consolidation of nations.

Oh, it all starts out innocently enough, sold to people as a way to improve economic conditions. But to really accomplish what they promise would take more than hand-holding and economic fantasy.