Mark Mitchell reflects on the euro crisis:
[T]he current crisis (and this is merely part of a broader crisis that extends beyond Europe) appears as a failure to appreciate the fact that optimal human institutions—those that facilitate human flourishing—cannot exceed a certain scale, and when they do, they will inevitably suffer.
Europe’s problems, then, present an opportunity to reconsider ideas that have been ignored for too long. A renewed commitment to the principles of political decentralism, economic localism, and cultural regionalism is a radical prescription for a Europe haunted by the specter of unity, but it would provide the opportunity for Europeans to reconsider the meaning of citizenship, culture, and community on a scale that is meaningful, which is to say, suited to human beings.
As the crisis deepens and as centralizing solutions continue to show themselves inadequate, perhaps one day in the not-too-distant future saner heads will prevail and consideration of human scale will emerge as an idea whose time has come. The sooner we on this side of the Atlantic learn this lesson the better we will be able to manage our own troubles.
The Dish 