Tea Party UK? Why Europeans Don't Protest Taxation December 23, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/10/17/Uncommon_Knowledge_Daniel_Hannan

European nations face much higher tax rates than any seen in the United States - so why is there no European equivalent of the Tea Party? Rather than simply chalking it up to cultural differences, British politician Daniel Hannan attributes the discrepancy to the American practice of open primaries.

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A journalist and author, Daniel Hannan has been a British member of the European Parliament since 1999. He first came to wide notice in the United States when he made a speech on the floor of the European Parliament addressing the then-prime minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, about his disastrous economic policies. Hannan's latest book is A New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America.

Amplifying on his new book, Daniel Hannan warns that the United States is Europeanizing, with all the inherent dangers that come with the expansion of the welfare state. "This expansion doesn't just reduce economic growth, it tends to squeeze out personal morality."

Hannan, who connects the decline of the European family and society with the rise of cradle-to-grave welfare in Europe, has a special warning about the dangers of Obamacare: "Once politicians assume responsibility for health care, they find that they have made an almost irreversible decision." Hannan concludes that this drift to Europeanization is not inevitable if Americans honor the genius of the Founding Fathers. - Hoover Institution

A journalist and author, Daniel Hannan has been a British member of the European Parliament since 1999. He first came to wide notice in the U.S. when he made a speech on the floor of the European Parliament, addressing the then-prime minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown. Hannan's latest book is A New Road to Serfdom: A Letter of Warning to America.