Boris Johnson, the sitting mayor of London, elected MP, and shoe-in to succeed David Cameron, has officially declared his support for a UK exit from the European Union. His popularity will bolster the case for the “Yes” vote in Britain’s 2017 EU referendum, while also providing legitimacy to the argument that the supranational organization is a threat to economic liberty and national sovereignty.
The EU was theoretically created to improve the relations and interconnectivity between countries that had warred against each other on a global scale twice in less than a century. In reality, it was an alliance concocted by Parisians and Berliners intent on protecting their inefficient farmers and industries, determined to shun the big bad world with its free trade and (shudder) foreign competition.
Karl Marx cannot hold a candle to Adam Smith
Today, it is a bureaucratic monstrosity that has stifled prosperity, freedom, and quality of life, experimenting with mass immigration that strains public services, imposing punishing tariffs on goods from non-European countries, and maintaining a Draconian regulatory infrastructure that slobbers at the feet of state corporations. Private enterprise, tolerance and breathing space are on the decline in Europe, and the supplanting of sovereignty is to blame.
Boris Johnson, a staunch Thatcherite who once wrote articles supporting the Iron Lady when she was betrayed by dreamy internationalists within her own party, has a thorough understanding of what good governance is all about. While leading one of the world’s most important cities, he cut property taxes, cleaned up rough neighborhoods, gave inner-city youth employment and recreational opportunities, and gave the urban poor a hand up rather than a handout. He is a classical liberal in every sense of the world, angered when public unions keep failing schools open, outraged when “lefty tossers” want to shift policemen’s salaries to fast food workers, and indignant when poor black African countries are shut out of trade with his country because Ms. Merkel says so. He understands that the world is becoming flatter every day, and that trading unconditionally with everyone and accepting the best and brightest from everywhere is crucial to enhancing the possibilities of production. Like most mayors, he has a pragmatism that trumps the intellect of Keynesian economists and power-hungry legislators.
The British deserve a better deal. They are the most entrepreneurial and educated people in Europe, making a tiny island the financial center of the world, proving that specialization will always trump generalization. They are evidence that the work ethic of individuals and the willingness to access markets in every corner of the world are the formula for success. Now, however, they are under attack, being drained by French socialists and German corporatists, who think that a mandate can fix everything, who are convinced that price controls and mercantilist blocs will suppress the human spirit. It is now up to Mr. Johnson to lead the charge against them, to show them that Karl Marx cannot hold a candle to Adam Smith.
“There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.” - Margaret Thatcher
