European Politician to US: Don't Be Like Us

Barack Obama isn't a socialist as some of his critics like to say, but he's definitely a "Eurocrat," writes Daniel Hannan. And he should know—he's been a member of the European Parliament for 11 years. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he argues that Obama is trying to make America more like Europe in everything from health care and welfare to foreign policy. Hannan's advice: Stop!

America is America because the "will of the people" still matters, he writes, citing rules such as term limits and ballot initiatives that keep the power of the state in check. Europe does the opposite. "You can imagine how I feel when I see the US making the same mistakes that Britain has made: expanding its government, regulating private commerce, centralizing its jurisdiction, breaking the link between taxation and representation, abandoning its sovereignty," writes Hannan. "You deserve better, cousins. And we expect better." (More Europe stories.)