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June 1, 2005
Not Quite the Same
Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters makes a pretty basic mistake about the Articles of Confederation:
The current efforts of the EU to define itself looks more like our original Articles of Confederation than anything approaching unity. The results this week look similar to what they were here as well.
OK, I understand that he was trying to make the point that the proposed EU constitution was utterly unsatisfactory as a ruling document, and he is correct. However, the problems posed by the EU's attempt are the polar opposite of those created by the Articles. The Articles of Confederation created a central government that was incapable of even basic function, while the EU constitution would create a too-powerful and intrusive central government.
Some of the problems that came about from the Articles were directly reflected in provisions of the Constitution's detailed rules about representation of residents somewhat less than free citizens, the provisions on debts and taxation, and in particular the powers granted to the Congress to regulate interstate commerce and create a national army. While the EU under the proposed constitution could only barely be called free, the US under the Articles could only barely be called a nation.
And in truth, the US under the Articles was not a unified nation, but a collection of nations (there's a reason they are called States rather than counties, departments, cantonments or colonies) who basically agreed to collectively defend each other (more like NATO than a nation), to collectively deal with other nations, to allow freedom of movement between States, to respect each others' laws and contracts and not much else. Oh, and Canada could have been admitted to the league by acceding to the Articles.
So yes, the Articles were as unworkable as the proposed EU constitution, but the reasons they were unworkable and the resultant outcomes were entirely different.
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