John Nichols on The EU

Now that the Dutch have also voted no to the EU constitution, this has some more meaning:

Since the close of the Cold War, apologists for corporate arrogance and irresponsibility have argued that the world has reached an "end of history" moment when there can no longer be any debate about the superiority of cut-throat competition and business-defined "free markets."...

Now comes an even clearer, and blunter, challenge to the free-market mantra of the "end of history" crowd.

France's overwhelming rejection of the new European Union Constitution, which would have locked in free-market policies that coddle corporations while creating pressure to cut pay, benefits and social-welfare protections for workers in western Europe, sent a powerful signal that citizens are waking up to the threats posed by an unbridled free market to their livelihoods, their communities and their democracies.

I think the larger problem with the constitution was that it tried to rope 25 very different economies in to one economic framework. Does Turkey really belong in the same club as Germany or the UK? It's hard to argue that, but that's exactly what the Constitution said. It's also hard to not get creeped out by the increasing "Americanization" of the rhetoric from the European anti-immigrant forces. Turkey's becoming the new Mexico, even though there's little evidence that the US actually suffers from illegal immigration.