Sovereignty, the No. 1 pro-life issue<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
By Donald Hank
 
            Politicians who embrace the pro-life platform but hold the view that government must become increasingly supranational to accommodate the global economy, are fooling themselves and their constituents. A pro-life policy is useless if an international government body such as an international court or congress can intervene to thwart its implementation. This is why the new trend in evangelical Christianity to regard borders as contrary to the Bible is extremely dangerous, and what is more, this view is not supported by the Bible, as Worldnetdaily founder  Joseph Farah has recently shown.
 
            Of course, if we paid more attention to the second thoughts Europeans are having about their international entity, the European Union, we would easily see why this is a terrible idea in any case. But therein lies another flaw of some "conservative" Christians, namely, a tendency to avoid any news that does not directly relate to the goings-on in their own nation. Interesting, isn't it? While subscribing to the New-Age view that a Christian nation must be borderless, they refuse to look abroad to see how this ideology translates into reality.
 
            I have collected some recent news items that will help pull back the curtain on the reality of international governance schemes.
 
The EU honeymoon is over
 
European politicians and media have long touted EU membership as a way to boost the economy and overcome annoying trade and currency barriers. American politicians have jumped on the supranational government bandwagon, touting NAFTA, CAFTA, the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership), etc. as instruments of economic trade promotion.
 
But now, many years after the wedding, the makeup is wearing off, the blemishes are showing, and more Europeans than ever are openly expressing dissatisfaction with the terms of the European Union's marriage vows. Farmers in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Italy are having their farms and goods confiscated as an eviscerated Italian government looks on helplessly. The Polish government chafes at the loss of trade with neighboring Eastern countries. Loss of sovereignty and self-determination was the price, and it has proven a heavy one.
 
There are now groups all over Europe that are earnestly taking up the cudgel to beat back what they see as the despot that has stolen their sovereignty and has left them poorer and with infinitely less power over their own lives than before. In fact, it is now fashionable in government circles-even among some EU parliament members-to be a "euroskeptic," i.e., one who is generally skeptical of the European Union. The bad news is that there are precious few to fight the battle at this point. The good news is that they are now international and have reached out to like-minded groups around the globe, including Laigle's Forum.
 
We proudly salute these freedom fighters.
 
Below are some of the unforeseen issues that have arisen as a result of the EU's power grab and the willingness of Europeans to trade sovereignty for a promise of security, a promise that, sadly, may not be kept in the end.
 
 
EU members want Mediterranean sub group
 
If President Sarkozy has his way, there will soon be a new Mediterranean wing of the EU, which is being sold as a "bridge to the Muslim world."
 
The untold part of this story is that this would almost inevitably lead eventually to an overture toward membership in the EU for nations seen as exporters of terror. Once they are EU members, there will be unlimited visa-free travel for Egyptians, Moroccans, Algerians, Turks, and eventually the entire Islamic world, to anywhere in Europe.
 
And since the United States already has in place a non-visa travel agreement with the EU, they can then come here too, unrestricted.
 
EU farmers paying the price for loss of national sovereignty
 
Brussels says it is illegal for banks in Sardinia to give special low-interest loans to farmers there. However, thousands of farmers got this aid in good faith back around the time the EU was weighing the banning of these farm loans. Now innocent farmers are being punished and many are losing their farms.
 
It used to be illegal worldwide for any bank to renege on a loan. That was just good business sense. But now the banks are being forced by a runaway central government-that an increasing number of Europeans are seeing as illegal-to renege on their loans.
 
This is one of the fruits of the supranational government concept. Italy, once a proud nation, is now reduced to a mere cog in a great heartless wheel that sometimes crushes the little guy. The nation is now powerless to save its own people from enforced starvation.
 
The pretext given by the EU is that this low-interest loan interferes with the free market.
 
Yet, the real issue is a huge transfer of wealth from the perceived rich countries to the perceived poor countries, and that is hardly a free market policy. It is warmed over communism.
 
Stalin shot the farmers. The EU starves them. And for the same reason: wealth redistribution. Let us be clear in our thinking: supranationalism is the new communism.
 
Schengen visas too pricy for most in Eastern Europe
 
            The Schengen visa, which is designed to allow free travel within the EU territory, was hailed as a victory when it came out, and politicians like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, are still busy propagandizing on their behalf.
 
            But the down side is:
 
            1-The Schengen visas are often prohibitively costly for non-EU members;
 
            2-The visas expire in less than 3 months, a hardship for non-EU citizens at border areas.
 
            3-Tourist visas can be cancelled if the bearer tries to do business in the EU territory.
 
            4- All of this puts unfair pressure on outsider nations, desirous of maintaining their sovereignty, to join the EU.
 
            Previously, visas available from the Polish consulate or embassy, for example, cost a fraction of the new Schengen visa's price. Visitors from border regions in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine who once traveled virtually unrestricted to the homes of friends and family or to commercial areas in Poland, are now forced to pay several times the cost of the old national visa (no longer available) in order to continue crossing the border. In many cases, they have simply been forced to stop coming. This hurts trade with Poland, primarily a drawback for that nation, but also the non-EU country in question.
 
            The same situation now exists for Slovenia, a newcomer to the EU, and the neighboring Croatia, where friends and families are divided as a result of the new Schengen border.
 
            The governments and people of these border nations are obvoiusly not happy about this situation. But they are trapped, in a bad marriage from which there is no divorce.
 
Click here.
 
This link opens a pdf file on the subject.
 
 
Sovereignty, the social issue they just don't get
 
            Prominent evangelical groups like Wall Builders, for example, say that candidate Mike Huckabee is the only one who is solid on all of the social issues, which they list as: human life amendment, traditional marriage, gun rights, opposition to gay pride, and moral education.
 
            Their rating shows that Huck is the only one who is socially conservative on all of these issues.
 
            Maybe. But the hottest issue today, which heavily impacts all others, is the issue of sovereignty.
 
            Loss of sovereignty dilutes all other gains on these fronts. If, for example, a Third World viewpoint eventually prevails here as a result of amnestying millions or entering into entangling alliances of the EU type (a North American Union), the only issue "Americans" care about will be their own stomachs. Hispanics have always had a relationship with government similar to that of an abused woman toward her hombre: "take care of me, Papito, and you can abuse me all you want." It's called paternalism and it's the antithesis of the American way of life.
 
            So if we keep our borders open and reward law-breaking "immigrants," a Third World viewpoint will eventually dominate here and all voting will hinge on who promises the most social pork. Moral issues will be inconsequential to the vast majority.
 
            And that will be the end of America.
 
            Abortion will matter, but will not be a major issue. To illustrate this inconsistency of mind, I was reading the Spanish-language newspaper ABC in the book store the other day and saw a great front-page article about a pro-life march in Madrid. The writer was clearly enthusiastic. Ah, a conservative newspaper, I thought.
 
            But the editorial page carried a commentary on the Clintons in which the author called Bill the "best president" American had ever had (for perspective, you may see and hear Bill Clinton making his most memorable quote --"People should not be allowed to raise questions and erode people's moral authority in this country."-- on this video). For some reason, many "conservative" and religious Europeans and Hispanics cannot quite make the connection between the political Left and the loss of family values. These otherwise pro-life and pro-family people seem oblivious to the fact that another Clinton presidency could dash all hopes of a fair and balanced Supreme Court that might eventually recognized the sanctity of unborn life in this country.
 
            It just doesn't work to have a one-sided view of the world.
 
            With all of his good intentions and softness of heart, Huckabee, if elected, may well preside over an America with somewhat less abortion (it already has that). But if he continues to take the viewpoint of his proposed secretary of state, Richard Haass, then America could, within his term, dissolve in a multinational stew of assorted states complete with EU-like parliament and central court, where our notions of sanctity of life, gun rights, traditional marriage, even religious freedom, and the like would be disdained as quaint and antiquated. If you viewed the video linked above regarding the unfortunate Sardinian farmers, you will easily understand that America too would be beholden to a foreign court and laws if we go the supranational route (as we are already with NAFTA, CAFTA, the SPP, LOST and other Bush overtures to the UN). We would be slaves, like every European country today.
 
            Our continued sovereignty and freedom depend on our ability to comprehend this simple, but vital, issue.
 
            In that sense, then, sovereignty should be seen as an over-arching social value that must be guarded just as vigorously and vigilantly as all the rest.
 
Contact the author: zoilandon@msn.com