European Union: Vacations Are A Basic Human Right
Yup. Right up there with having someone else pay for your health care, food stamps, internet connection, etc., etc.
Brussels has declared that tourism is a human right and pensioners, youths and those too poor to afford it should have their travel subsidised by the taxpayer.
Under the scheme, British pensioners could be given cut-price trips to Spain, while Greek teenagers could be taken around disused mills in Manchester to experience the cultural diversity of Europe.
The idea for the subsidised tours is the brainchild of Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, who was appointed by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.
The scheme, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, is intended to promote a sense of pride in European culture, bridge the north-south divide in the continent and prop up resorts in their off-season.
What I find almost as objectionable as the government subsidizing vacations is the idea that the government is going to define what those vacations are. What if pensioners don’t want to go to Spain? What if teenagers don’t want to tour disused mills?
Doesn’t matter. Government knows best.
Which is the problem we face with all entitlements, whether we’re talking about vacations or health care. When the government is handing out an entitlement, the government defines what that entitlement entails. If we allow the government to provide internet, the government is going to shape what you can get on the internet. If the government is going to provide health care (or regulate it to the point where they may as well be providing it like with the new health care bill), then the government is going to decide what kind of health care you can get. And when. And how much. And from who.
And none of this has anything to do with freedom.
What we’ve forgotten, I think, is that with freedom comes responsibility. Freedom is not being dependent on the government. Freedom is not voting for bigger government financed by huge taxes on the most productive members of society and big loans from international creditors. Freedom means having life and liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness.
Tags: cbs, gallup, government, moveon.org, poll
