To Liberalize or to Perish: The Political and Economic Future of Europe

As globalization dramatically reforms the world's political and economic landscape, the people of Europe stand at a vital crossroads. They possess the opportunity, and the capacity, to reap the benefits of a world that is continually becoming more open, dynamic, and economically interactive across borders and oceans. However, tremendous institutional obstacles from inefficient and intrusive government structures remain in their way. Politically and economically, big government threatens the endurance and very survival of the standard of living Europeans had earlier enjoyed. In order to progress, Europe must experience a dramatic relaxation of government political homogenization and economic regulation, thus enabling entrepreneurial individuals to freely tap into the benefits of the global marketplace.

Politically, the majority of Europe's governments remain thoroughly permeated with welfare-statism, the doctrine which presumes a responsibility on the part of government to direct and restrict the activities of these citizens, allegedly for those citizens' own good. The Welfare State, which has been growing in Western Europe since World War II, might now face prospects of even more coordinated expansion as Europe centralizes and consolidates its political infrastructure via such organizations as the European Union (EU) and European Commission (EC). Richard Pollock of the Cato Institute reveals the alarming consequences of this centralization of political power, describing a report issued in the summer of 2003 by the EC's Social Affairs Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou:

"In the name of ending sexual stereotypes of men and women, she opined that some European media and advertising should be banned... Article 4 of Diamantopoulou's proposal... attempts to censor all mass media and advertising on the Continent. The Greek socialist commissioner said her office is seeking 'to avoid throughout all forms of media notably all stereotypical portrayals of women and men...'" (Pollock 1-2)