Today was my first encounter with WND. The reporting seems excellent, but, of course, many of the topics covered are disturbing.
When I read about the plan to merge the U.S., Canada and Mexico, I remain somewhat skeptical. I will examine the subject further. But here is some food for thought when comparing a proposed North American merger with that of the European Union.
I lived and went to school in Spain for half a year. It was a year of great import, not only for Europe, but for the U.S. – both then and now. You see, it was the year Spain, Ireland and Portugal were admitted to the EU. The euro was still only in the planning stages. Reagan was running for his second term.
I bring this up because of what it was like, for the everyday “Joe” in Spain that year – perhaps what it could be like for a “Joe” in the Americas. In short, the government told him how he could make a living with what he owned because the other nation-members of the EU did not want competition. They did not want to compete with Spain in the production of wine, olives or in the harvest of fish from the ocean.
What do I remember? I remember a fishing fleet that was one of the largest on earth, in per-capita terms, eclipsed only by Japan and Russia. Fishing is a business very dependent upon knowledge being handed down from person to person, especially from generation to generation. It is not a business easily mastered, nor is it easy for a professional fisherman to move from that business to one completely different. But the fleet was too large for other members of the EU, so the Spanish government held a lottery to determine who would wake up on lottery day to find himself permanently barred from professional fishing.
I also remember strikes in the grape-growing district of Logrono as vineyards were systematically reduced or destroyed – on purpose – because they were successful.
Above all, I remember one of my teachers emotionally distraught because the evening before, he and his father had to go out to the family olive grove – originally planted by the Greeks thousands of years before – and cut down every third tree. Think about that for a minute: Some other countries find a tree of historical and economic value to be a threat to their moneymaking plans, and order it killed. The value of the tree itself and the sanctity of private property did not matter in the crusade for an economic “level playing field.”
And where would a Spaniard go if he or she were disenfranchised by the EU? Nowhere – every other country around them is EU as well.
Chris Koch
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WND Staff