How many of us have even heard about the Treaty of Lisbon, let alone really know anything about it? Very few! The tragedy in all of this is not our lack of knowledge: the tragedy is in our apathy. America is rapidly transforming into a nation filled with totally self-focused people, which have an unquestioning subservience to the federal government. We are a nation who morns the death of an idiot because they were a famous entertainer; but we cannot tell you how our own state senator voted in 2009 … that is assuming we even know who our state senator is. Asking a bunch of very shallow, reality-TV intoxicated Americans anything about the Treaty of Lisbon is probably the height of foolishness.
We Americans have become so apathetic over what is going on in Washington D.C. that what is going on in the EU might just as well be happening on Mars. I am not so sure that it isn’t the fault of the media. The Treaty of Lisbon received very little media coverage in America. Either the media is extremely arrogant or it is marching to the beat of a hidden drummer. In any advent, things in the East are very interesting and perhaps we should be paying a bit more attention to them, and to our government’s attitude toward these events.
To start with, the Treaty of Lisbon is a treaty that was signed by member states of the European Union (EU) on 13 December 2007 and was put into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. Under EU rules, the treaty had to be ratified by all 27-member states before coming into force. The last country to ratify the treaty was the Czech Republic, which completed the process on 3 November 2009. The treaty is now officially the new EU law.
Like the proposed European constitution before it, the treaty is often described as an attempt to streamline EU institutions to make the enlarged bloc of 27 states function better. In reality the Treaty of Lisbon is just another step in the evolution of a federalist United States of Europe. The countries of Europe are faced with the loss of their own national sovereignty and rights; just like the American states have lost, and continue to lose, their individual rights. The Treaty of Lisbon is just another step in European federalization, a scary thought when you look at the history of Europe.
Proponents of the treaty claim that it provides the EU with modern institutions and optimized working methods. And that the EU can now more efficiently and effectively meet world challenges today. Proponents claim that Europeans look to the EU to address issues such as globalization, climatic and demographic changes, security and energy. All of this is true: at the cost of freedom. Making Europe more efficient and effective is also making it easier to control. The EU will eventually become an elitist centric federation exactly like the United States of America.
In my opinion, on 1 December 2009 European countries lost their sovernity. The treaty will create the first president of Europe, the first European foreign minister, and will end much of the autonomy of member nations. Eurpoean nations and their citizens will have lost their freedoms much like the American states and people have been steadly loosing their freedoms.