Thatcher Saw Clearly

John O'Sullivan, at National Review, looks at Margaret Thatcher's evaluation of the European Union, and quotes biographer John Campbell who quotes her. Campbell writes:

Europe, she had concluded after years of trying was “fundamentally unreformable”. It was “an empire in the making . . . the ultimate bureaucracy”, founded on “humbug”; inherently protectionist, intrinsically corrupt, essentially undemocratic, and dedicated to the destruction of nation states. “It is in fact a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure.” That being so, she now called, as she had never done so explicitly before, for a fundamental renegotiation of Britain’s membership, and if that failed — as it was bound to do— for Britain to be ready to leave the union and join the North American Free Trade Area instead, turning its back on the whole disastrous folly.

It is sad Baroness Thatcher didn't live long enough to see events prove her absolutely correct. The chattering classes in the U.K. hate her for being right, when they were wrong. The EU is the fond wish of progressives everywhere, "a classic utopian project."