Monday, June 27, 2016

The Collapse of European Unity

Britain's decision to leave the EU signals the end of over 50 years of social and political order, a time of historical peace and economic growth, begs the question of what order will replace it? 

For now, a powerful rising return of nationalism is seeking control - not to say wiser and perhaps better policies may arise - but since this anti-unity effort has grown from nationalism, then ....

An excellent essay at Washington Monthly comparing the most narrow of world views with the often demeaned policies of liberalism led by President Obama reveals stark contrasts. As he spoke in his Nobel Speech (quoted in the essay):

"I do not believe that we will have the will, the determination, the staying power, to complete this work without something more — and that’s the continued expansion of our moral imagination; an insistence that there’s something irreducible that we all share.

"We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place…For if we lose that faith — if we dismiss it as silly or naïve; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace — then we lose what’s best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass."