March 12, 2007
VOLKSAGGIN'
Europe is not the sum of its parts (Spengler, 3/13/07, Asia Times)
Ethnically defined nationalism led Europe into World Wars I and II, from which it has not recovered, and from whose wounds it yet might die. Europe's secular nationalism stands in contrast to popular sovereignty on a Christian foundation in the United States - but it was not just "the people", but what Abraham Lincoln called an "almost-chosen people" that made this possible. [...]As secular entities, the nations of Europe will go their separate ways to perdition. As their demographics shift, they will fall one by one to Muslim majorities.
Even as a practical matter in the relative short term, a European government cannot work. Consider a simple example: Only 15% of Germany's population is at the age of household formation, and real housing prices have fallen by 2% during the past 10 years. By contrast, 23% of Ireland's population is at the age of household formation, and real home prices have risen by about 15% in the past 10 years, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD shows that there is a trend line across its member states between these two variables. Demographics are significant for home prices, although other factors are important. Now, suppose the EC should consider subsidies to families with young children to purchase homes. In effect it will tax Germans to support Irishmen. Or suppose it should consider a wealth tax to support pensions - in that case it would tax the capital gains on the homes of Irishmen to support Germans.
The US constitution must deal with such regional problems continuously, but they are easily solved through free movement of people through the country. Even with mobility of labor it is much harder for a German to become an Irishman than for a Hoosier to become a Tar Heel (ie, move from Indiana to North Carolina).
To recapture Europe means re-creating the faith. It is hard to imagine that the Roman Catholic Church might re-emerge as Europe's defining institution. The European Church is enervated. But I do not think that is the end of the matter. As I argued last month, Russia has become the frontier between Europe and the Islamic world and, unlike Europe, is not prepared to dissolve quietly into the ummah. Pope Benedict's recent pilgrimage to Turkey, it must be remembered, only incidentally dealt with Catholic relations with Islam; first of all it was a gesture to Orthodoxy in the form of a visit to the former Byzantium, its spiritual home.
Franz Rosenzweig, that most Jewish connoisseur of Christianity, believed that the Church of Peter (Rome) and the Church of Paul (Protestantism) would yield place to the Church of John (Orthodoxy) - that the churches of works and faith would be transcended by the church of love. If Europe has a future, it lies in an ecumenical alliance of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and at least some elements of Anglicanism.
Spengler sees more fight in the Russians, whose demographics are really imploding, than we do, though he gets the cancer of nationalism quite right. It is the dead end that the map of Darwinism led them down.
MORE:
Bishop warns Labour: Don't count on the Catholic vote (FERGUS SHEPPARD, 3/12/07, The Scotsman)
A SCOTS Catholic bishop yesterday made an unprecedented political intervention ahead of the May elections by denouncing the Labour establishment in Holyrood and Westminster for creating "morality devoid of any Christian principle".The Bishop of Motherwell, the Rt Rev Joseph Devine, warned it would be "ill-founded" of the Labour Party to assume it could count on the traditional working-class vote in Scotland.
He said: "For generations, including myself, Catholics in their droves tended to vote consistently for the Labour Party. But over the past few months it has been very noticeable, in conversations I've had with all manner of people, that that allegiance has been severely tested to the point, I think, of being broken."
The 69-year-old bishop's objections reflect a growing concern among senior Catholics in Scotland over what they see as a progressive erosion of family values permitted by Holyrood and Westminster.
Don't forget the old saying, "Russia is never as strong as it looks. Russia is never as weak as it looks."
Posted by: Brandon at March 12, 2007 10:46 AMRussia has never been stronger than it looked in its history. It is bigger than it looks, which is why invasions fare poorly.
Posted by: oj at March 12, 2007 10:59 AMIt's actually smaller than it looks in those old Mecator projection maps.
Posted by: Brandon at March 12, 2007 11:47 AMRussia looks smaller than it is (smaller than Brazil and Australia) on the Azimuthal Equidistant Polar Projection Map.
Posted by: Dave W at March 12, 2007 1:05 PMRussia is finished. The only intelligent thing for them to do at this point would be to sell us Siberia for a couple trillion dollars. That would give them some cash to try to address their catastrophic demographic problems (won't be enough, of course), and would eliminate the impending problem of trying to defend a hopelessly long border against inevitable Chinese encroachment. And we'd get all the resources (which Russia won't ever be able to exploit), plus the all-important "frontier" that is crucial for the American way of life.
Posted by: b at March 12, 2007 4:07 PM