Department of Credibility

I’ll have more to say about this video discussion at National Review in due course. The summary, mind you, gives you a decent flavour of the thesis:

The Decline and Fall of Europe: Chapter 3 of 5 Prof. Thornton discusses how a bureaucratic European Union “super state” is undermining the old nation-states of England, France, and Germany — a dangerous process. Uber-nationalism, of course, gave us the fascist European movements of the 20th century. Under the “enlightened” guidance of the EU, however, any nationalism is looked upon as reprehensible. Thornton counters that deep-rooted nationalism is a net good, and that its deterioration will coincide with the loss of representative democracy.

But at the risk of indulging a pet peeve or seeming unduly snarky, let me observe that this analysis of Europe might be more convincing if  England were actually a nation-state (or for that matter if Germany were an “old” nation-state).