Posted June 16, 2016
I think the sad truth is that many of the goals the EU claims to be aiming for are just not possible. This is not Star Trek, if you will, we are not some enlightened race where we all get along and know no greed. We are just the same as we have always been, humans don't change, we just change the methods we use to gain power and to hurt people. Where ever there is money and power there will be greed. And therein lies the problem. Remove the power and the ability to control the money, and you limit the chance of corruption. That is why I think the EU as a dominant thing would not work. Give a few people that much power and it will be corrupted. If, however, you kept the power limited and trusted the nations to talk to each other, in a democratic way, you limit for the most part that nations power to itself only, not having control over so many others.
What would you say to an EU of zones, say North West Europe, Mediterranean Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, etc? One that would oversee those regions based on a per region basis, so that laws passed for one would not effect the other unless they wanted to implement it themselves? Of course vital ones would be across the board, but a regional system would allow a more customised approach that would better suit the individual members of those different zones. But even then I don't think it would work. As I said above, money and power will always corrupt people, and the greater the wealth and the power the more dangerous it is to everyone else.
Are they? Was there ever an honest try? Would be interesting to examine if greed was prevailant everywhere and everytime or was exported due to expansion of capitalism in general. I don't have an answer for that and writing about it reminds me to finally read The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber.
I don't think that splitting Europe into zones would be a good idea. I agree that under the current economic system my vision is hardly realisable same with the dominance of nationalism which is very much a 19th century concept....
I never assumed that such a supranational entity of whatever shape would be easily achieved and maintained and it's not very likely in the current world we're living in but i think it's worth aiming for it (not by means of the current EU though).
I don't think this thread s good place to continue discussing that which is why leave it at that for the moment :)
