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| Monday, May 30, 2005 |
| France rejects free-market capitalism |
France rejected the EU draft Constitution, by 55%, because they are worried it will open the door to tearing down some of their traditional social programs and workers' rights protections. It's an interesting development when compared to the United States, where Republican leadership is trying to chip away at social welfare programs one by one and usher in as close as pure free-market capitalism as we can. It's nice to know that somewhere in the world people care about protecting the less fortunate.
Update: Just to clarify, because I think the statement above can be read as if written by a left-wing-nut, I'm not anti-capitalist. I just believe that unfettered capitalism leads to the creation of a self-perpetuating aristocratic class, and a huge and inhumane gap between the wealthy and the very poor. Therefore I believe in capitalism with some safeguards protecting lower classes from extreme poverty, from inability to meet basic health needs, etc.
I'm also very pro-EU, as this Nov 17 '04 post shows, and believe that the United States needs a competitor on its scale. I hope the EU can ratify a Constitution at some point, as that Constitution was going to include a ban on the death penalty, and a clear statement of the right to universal healthcare, housing for the poor, and equal treatment for homosexuals. |
posted by CB @ 10:39 AM   |
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