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2 Europe is not the sum
of its parts By Spengler
remembered that the
"Romantics" took their name from Rome. Their
object was to renew the medieval Church. When
Napoleon invaded the rest of Europe with a mass
popular army, the other nations of Europe
responded by creating mass armies. German
nationalism was born at the Battle of Leipzig in
1813, when all Germany stood on the same field for
the first time since the Thirty Years' War - but
this time on grounds of sovereignty, not religion.
Ethnically defined nationalism led Europe
into World Wars I and II, from which it has not
recovered, and from whose wounds it yet
might die. Europe's secular
nationalism stands in contrast to popular
sovereignty on a Christian foundation in the
United States - but it was not just "the people",
but what Abraham Lincoln called an "almost-chosen
people" that made this possible.
For
reasons I have detailed elsewhere, I believe that
the European concept of universal empire was
doomed to failure. [2] But I have certain sympathy
for those who defended it against Richelieu's
alternative. European is a tragedy in which all
the protagonists deserve a measure of sympathy,
for they are all too human - in this respect I
have a sympathy for the human predicament of
Muslims, as well. In Hamlet or
Wallenstein, one does not hiss at the
villain and cheer at the hero, but rather tries to
strike the right balance of empathy and
detachment. I have no sympathy for Richelieu, but
rather a grudging admiration. His long duel with
his Spanish counterpart, the Count-Duke of
Olivares, was the ultimate exercise in cunning
applied to modern statesmanship.
As
secular entities, the nations of Europe will go
their separate ways to perdition. As their
demographics shift, they will fall one by one to
Muslim majorities.
Even as a practical matter in
the relative short term, a European government
cannot work. Consider a simple example: Only 15%
of Germany's population is at the age of household
formation, and real housing prices have fallen by
2% during the past 10 years. By contrast, 23% of
Ireland's population is at the age of household
formation, and real home prices have risen by
about 15% in the past 10 years, according to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. The OECD shows that there is a trend
line across its member states between these two
variables. Demographics are significant for home
prices, although other factors are important. Now,
suppose the EC should consider subsidies to
families with young children to purchase homes. In
effect it will tax Germans to support Irishmen. Or
suppose it should consider a wealth tax to support
pensions - in that case it
would tax the capital gains on the homes of
Irishmen to support Germans.
The US
constitution must deal with such regional problems
continuously, but they are easily solved through
free movement of people through the country. Even
with mobility of labor it is much harder for a
German to become an Irishman than for a Hoosier to
become a Tar Heel (ie, move from Indiana to North
Carolina).
To recapture
Europe means re-creating the faith. It is hard to
imagine that the Roman Catholic Church might
re-emerge as Europe's defining institution. The
European Church is enervated. But I do not think
that is the end of the matter. As I argued last
month, Russia has become the frontier between
Europe and the Islamic world and, unlike Europe,
is not prepared to dissolve quietly into the
ummah. [3] Pope Benedict's recent
pilgrimage to Turkey, it must be remembered, only
incidentally dealt with Catholic relations with
Islam; first of all it was a gesture to Orthodoxy
in the form of a visit to the former Byzantium,
its spiritual home.
Franz Rosenzweig, that
most Jewish connoisseur of Christianity, believed
that the Church of Peter (Rome) and the Church of
Paul (Protestantism) would yield place to the
Church of John (Orthodoxy) - that the churches of
works and faith would be transcended by the church
of love. If Europe has a future, it lies in an
ecumenical alliance of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and
at least some elements of Anglicanism.
For
the time being, Europe's constitution will be
stillborn. But Europe is not yet dead. Russia is
the place to watch, and the quiet conversation of
Catholicism is the still, small voice to listen
for.
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would tax the capital gains on the homes of
Irishmen to support Germans. 
