Thursday, March 26, 2009
Devalued Leaders Of Devalued Governments
| On Wednesday, the most watched YouTube video in England was a recording of a speech given by a gentleman named Daniel Hannan. It was a response to remarks made by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a session of the European Parliament. Hannan is an MEP, (Member of the European Parliament). He represents Southeast England and he is what we in America would call a conservative. He is considered a backbencher with little influence over the current makeup of the European legislative body. But that does not put a damper on Hannan’s opinions and beliefs. With the continued support of his British constituency, Hannan pushes an extraordinarily free market faith based vision imbedded in the American capitalist model. Much like their American cousins, the European media has a tendency to ignore conservative oriented arguments. As such, despite being notified ahead of time, Europe’s news outlets failed to give MEP Daniel Hannan’s response to Prime Minister Brown a whisp of coverage but a spectator's video camera caught it for all to see and after being posted on YouTube it has begun to see more coverage than it could have if the BBC itself aired it for their dwindling audience. The speech is one that I wish we could hear more of in our legislative chambers across America. It is one that speaks to a government leader who has spent all of his governments money and promises only to spend more. It is a speech where the nationalization of industries is called into question and the moral legitimacy of his nation’s leader, when it comes to his counsel in the world is called into question. My favorite part of this speech is when Hannan tells Prime Minister Brown that he can not “carry on forever, squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive”. What I find most interesting about Hannan's speech is its universal application. Although it refers to the leader of Britain, it could easily be applied to the leadership of any nation, including our own. If you don't believe me, take a look at the video yourself. I have included it here for your own consideration. I for one would welcome being represented by Daniel Hanna's and his thinking in my own state legilsature. |
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