Tourism is now a human right in Europe! Yep! Not simply the right to move freely or travel about, but the right, if you are a European, to demand of your government a taxpayer-subsidized vacation to somewhere like, say, Disneyworld! Euro-Disney, that is. Wow, Europe must be such a wonderful place! But where-oh-where do they get all that free money from? I mean it must grow on trees over there! Or maybe the Europeans who work at all the amusement parks, hotels, resorts and other vacation spots just work for free. Not to mention all the folks working on the planes, trains, buses, etc. that are needed to transport everyone who chooses to exercise their new free tourism right. Oh well, I’m sure they’ve got it all figured out. Besides, who cares when it’s a free vacation!
With the big debate over here being about whether there is even a right to healthcare, those fancy European Union folks must think we’re just a bunch of heathens. You can almost hear them in Brussels saying, “Healthcare a right? Oh, mon dieu! Of course that is a right! We’ve wrapped that one up and given it to our peoples long ago, Messieurs. Even Hitler and Stalin knew that! What is it with you provincial Americans and your so-called Natural Laws anyway? No wonder we kicked you out. Ignorant philistines!”
The Griswolds in Europe
Ah, yes. It would indeed appear that the wise men and women of Europe have “progressed” to bigger and better things. The Times Online reports that the European Union has formally declared that tourism is now a human right and that “pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidized by the taxpayer.” According to EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, Antonio Tajani, “Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life.” According to Tajani’s spokesman: “Why should someone from the Mediterranean not be able to travel to Edinburgh in summer for a breath of cool, fresh air; why should someone from Edinburgh not be able to travel to Greece in winter?” 1
And why not indeed? Well, I guess they always have been a few steps ahead
of us over there. I for one will not be completely happy (as is my right) until everyone has a right to a mansion and a yacht and a Maserati Quattroporte and, oh yes, a free lap-dance from that Taiwanese stripper I met the other night. Now that’s what I call exercising a natural right!
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Fn. 1: To view the full Times Online article, click here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7100943.ece
For a related post on this topic, link to:
https://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/why-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-a-right-to-healthcare/
Culture Crusader 