Hard to kill

George Will suggests that “this may be remembered as the month when the European project began to collapse under the weight of its unrealism and undemocratic nature.” He is referring to the fact that the “rarely turbulent Swedes” — “one of Europe’s most deferential and state-broken people” — recently voted not to jettison their own currency in favor of the euro. This certainly represents a setback for the European project. But these sorts of setbacks have occurred in the past without derailing the on-rushing train. Voter rejection never seems to be final, whereas voter acceptance always is. The European project will probably collapse one day, but I don’t think the collapse will be the result of ordinary, orderly voter rejection.