Flattening globalism: sovereignty. What a glorious word. A bit hard to spell perhaps, but worth every letter

American Conservative, The, June 30, 2008 by James P. Pinkerton

Yes, I know it seems like only yesterday that the world was flat. That was Thomas Friedman's best-selling argument: "Walls" were a thing of the past. Flatness, globalism, the twilight of sovereignty--these were the waves of the future.

Well, maybe Friedman needs to spend more time with the Irish and the Iraqis--and the Americans. In recent days, all three peoples have shown signs that they don't wish to be rolled over by the electronic-bureaucratic herd of universalist sovereignty-stompers.

Let's look at those plucky peoples willing to put a pitchfork into the grand globalists and their vast schemes.

On June 13, the people of Ireland rejected the Treaty of Lisbon, which would have enmeshed Eire even deeper into the coils of the European Union. The Irish were perfectly happy to accept subsidies from the check-writers in Brussels, but proved unwilling to bow down to foreigners. Over the centuries, they've had enough of that.

Ireland's prime minister Brian Cowen, along with the political and business elites of his country, had advocated a "yes" vote on the EU treaty. And his reaction to "no" was revealing: In the spirit of Fabian globalism, he allowed, "In a democracy, the will of the people--as expressed at the ballot box--is sovereign." But then, in the very next breath, Cowen added, "We must not rush to conclusions. The Union has been in this situation before and each time has found an agreed way forward." Ah, yes, "forward"--the inevitable and ineluctable long march to the radiant future.

Such is the power of an idea whose time has come--come to the elites, that is. As the New York Times had to admit in the wake of the Irish election, "In general, such treaties are far more popular with Europe's leaders than with its voters." As the Irish just proved. Score one for the don't-tread-on-me pitchforkers.

That same day, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in the midst of negotiations with Americans over permanent basing rights for Uncle Sam in Mesopotamia, said flatly, "The Iraqis will not consent to an agreement that infringes their sovereignty."

Some say, of course, that al-Maliki is just a puppet for the Americans. But if so, he is becoming an ungrateful puppet. And yes, he was safe inside the Green Zone while GIs built 106 military bases in his country, including one called "Camp Victory." (Bitter jokes about "Mission Accomplished" aside, it's a safe bet that al-Maliki and his countrymen grit their teeth when they hear that name.)

It was another ingrate, Manuel Quezon, the hero of Filipino independence, who declared, "I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans." Indeed, around the world, those flinty words sum up the attitude of the colonized.

Finally, even Americans showed that they get their backs up when their government pushes them too far. On June 6, liberal U.S. senators, fronting for Al Gore and global greens, could muster only 48 votes--12 short of what they needed, not even a majority--for the Lieberman-Warner "cap and trade" legislation, a bill that would have put the U.S. on the road to Kyoto serfdom.

But more collisions are coming. The elites here in the U.S. are determined to elect their man, Barack Obama. (John McCain was their second choice, infinitely preferable to the other Republican candidates.)

So now Democrats are gearing up for their next round of world flattening, beginning in 2009. Ted Widmer, a speechwriter for President Clinton, just published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calling for "a new and better freedom agenda, grounded in realistic promises of economic betterment." Not only that, Widmer wants us to "bring hope to hundreds of millions of people" by establishing "clear standards for the credibility of elections, creating consequences for leaders who tamper with votes."

Translation: We liberal interventionists will be like George W. Bush, promoting our vision of democracy everywhere, except that we will be more multilateral, more focused on economic aid. And yet one can hear, through all this high-hoping, the insistent voice of Quezon and other anti-imperialists: Yankee, Go Home!

Widmer is just one voice, even if he is well placed at Brown University and about to publish a book titled Ark of the Liberties: America and the World. Yet whether conservatives like it or not, whether Third Worlders like it or not, the left wing of the world-flattening posse is saddling up, ready to ride on behalf of its version of the "liberty century."

But all across the watchtowers of nationalism and national sovereignty, the backlash has begun. It is gathering force, even fury.