Fig Leaves for Authoritarianism
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2005-07-26 12:59
A quote from Peter Hitchens in The American Conservative , 18 July 2005
Barroso, like many of the prominent figures in the new European elite, is a former Marxist [...] It is always difficult to tell just how much of their Leninist bagage these people have dumped and how much of it is still in an attic somewhere, kept in case of need. But there are several interesting ressemblances between the European ideal and the Marxist fantasy of a world without nations or patriotism, controlled by a vanguard elite. […] Both [the old USSR and the new EU] suffer from economic five-year plans, both are or were governed by an unaccountable and secretive cabinet – the Politburo in Moscow, the Council of Ministers in Brussels. Both are or were immensily, hopelessly corrupt – the EU’s auditors have refused to sign the books for years. And both had or have a powerless assembly of well-rewarded placeman, without any concept of opposition or accountability, as a fig leaf for their authoritarian natures.
Barroso, like many of the prominent figures in the new European elite, is a former Marxist [...] It is always difficult to tell just how much of their Leninist bagage these people have dumped and how much of it is still in an attic somewhere, kept in case of need. But there are several interesting ressemblances between the European ideal and the Marxist fantasy of a world without nations or patriotism, controlled by a vanguard elite. […] Both [the old USSR and the new EU] suffer from economic five-year plans, both are or were governed by an unaccountable and secretive cabinet – the Politburo in Moscow, the Council of Ministers in Brussels. Both are or were immensily, hopelessly corrupt – the EU’s auditors have refused to sign the books for years. And both had or have a powerless assembly of well-rewarded placeman, without any concept of opposition or accountability, as a fig leaf for their authoritarian natures.