The two Bills to define all Bills, the American and the British one, arose from civil society’s need to protect itself from the waking cries of a new-born Master State.

They have partly succeded and partly not. But that’s not the point. The point is that this time, a miracle has occurred. That is, Power, with no need to shed blood, has decided to limit itself on its own. A commission of Sages has met and, step by step, has listed our rights. Which is, in itself, paradoxical: a “right” is something that you claim; it is not handed to you on a silver platter. Otherwise, it is called a “concession.”

Now, as long as the State (in this case, “Europe”) limits itself to conceding building permits, you may like it or not, but this falls within the realm of logic. Things start to get preposterous when the concession (EU Charter of Human Rights, Paragraph I, art. 2) reads: “each individual has a right to life”. Or read article 3: “each individual has a right to his/ her own physical integrity”.

These are fine declarations of principle, who would deny it, but they give rise to more problems than may at first appear. The “right to life” pertains to the heritage of classical liberalism. Or rather, it pertains to the heritage of Western civilization. However, it is a “right” which is claimed in the presence of Power. It is the appeal of the weak and oppresed in the presence of that bulldozer which is the State.

If instead, it is the State that concedes a “right to life”, then we must be wary. For that means that the State, in the minds of those who have written the document; has the right to decide our existence. It orders us to live, but it might change its mind. After all, the principle is the same.

And what should we say about the right to “integrity?” Just think: Mother Nature has been incapable of guaranteeing that, but the European Union is trying to do so.

The sad reality bears witness to the fact that each day deformed babies are born; babies affected by hydroencephalitis, Down’s Syndrome or other deformities, and stetto vegetate for the rest of their days. What should we do about these half born little beings? And then, how should we treat those who lose a piece of their “integrity” along the way? That can happen to anyone.

A workplace accident, a highway crash, a mountain excursion. Holding our Charter of Rights in hand, we should conclude that starting tomorrow, cars will no longer collide, buildings will stop caving in, volcanoes will go meekly on their way to eternal rest. Rivers should stop overflowing as well.

According to the EU Bill, the garbage dumpster is the logical destination for the crippled and the handicapped, those who are no longer “integral”, or who have never been so. Not even Adolph Hitler went there...

Except that insult is added to injury. That is - four lines down - “eugenetic practices are forbidden”: not only is there no piety for the unfortunate, but we are even prohibited from lending a hand in straightening our their bad luck. And the catalogue of so called rights goes on: freedom is guaranteed together with “safety” - which is not defined; does “safety” mean a secure job, or a policeman standing on the street corner?

The “right to study” is mentioned too. This “right” is defined thus: “every person has the right to a compulsory education”. They tell us that schooling must be coercive and government-run; otherwise, it apparently has no educational value. We know that nothing is “free”: public schools are paid for with high taxes.

But nobody remembers that in Brussels: in this strange “Constitution,” taxes are never mentioned. None of the founding fathers of this Unified Europe has thought of limiting the tasks of the new Leviathan, or its right to vampirize us all, sooner or later. If the European Union can do as it pleases with our lives, who knows what it will do with our pocketbooks?  

May 18, 2001