http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/11924603/David-Camerons-four-key-demands-to-remain-in-the-EU-revealed.html?WT.mc_id=e_DM54522&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FAM_New&utm_source=email&utm_medium=Edi_FAM_New_2015_10_11&utm_campaign=DM54522
The first point in Cameron's list of needed agreements is the most
important IMO. I find the idea of an EU superstate alarming. I concede
that my alarm isn't entirely rational since I don't feel that same
concern about Japan. Many in China and elsewhere in Southeast Asia
however do. But I am happy to see Japan modify its constitution so that
it can shoulder some responsibilities that the US would otherwise have
to shoulder by itself. Japan was able to rebuild its economy, much as
Europe did because the US was willing to take military responsibility
for their safety. Not that they appreciated that any more than the
European nations did, but they haven't as Habermas and others have
urged, engaged in anti-Americanism. Many in Western Europe have.
It isn't fear that an EU superstate might one day declare war on the
US. They can't even protect weaker border states against Russian
incursions. And in the recent past they've shown themselves unable to
deal with a Civil War. But is there not an incipient longing after the
good-old days when Germany was the most powerful nation in the world and
France was its ally? Officially no. Every nation repudiates fascism
officially, but can official repudiation alter good feelings associated
with tradition?
Heidegger urged that Germany hark back to its cultural traditions and
lead Western Europe benignly (at least that is the way he explained it
after WWII was over) into its rightful place as leader of the world.
Germany had everything going for it, the best minds and workers in the
world. Its friends and allies, would benefit from German leadership and
the resulting coalition would be wonderful.
I read enough of Heidegger at one time to believe he was (mostly)
sincere. Others at the time disagreed, but if we take cultural
tradition as having any weight -- a sort of nature as opposed to nurture
position, then we shouldn't be (and the Tories aren't) anxious to see a
European superstate with Germany the logical leader anytime soon. There
are still people alive who remember what it was like in Germany's prewar
and war heyday -- heady stuff.
I don't believe that cultural tradition is fixed for all time. Don't the
people living in Italy today trace their decent from ancient Rome and
can one see any of that Rome in them today? The same can be asked about
Greece. Time erodes cultural traditions, but it doesn't do it quickly.
It seems too soon to welcome a European superstate.
Lawrence
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html