Dissent in the ranks from Klaus at G20 summit

By Chad Grills

Staff Writer

With the G20 summit a rousing spectacle for some, there are several events worth noting. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown provided entertainment by appropriating one trillion dollars for the IMF and World Bank, declaring a "new world order is emerging." Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (not to be confused with KGB operative and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin) referred to President Obama as his "new comrade." The anti-capitalist protesters arguing against leaders who despise capitalism provided added humor. All of this pleases those who are wide-eyed and spilling Kool-Aid from their glasses, but for those who do monitor the contents of their intellectual sustenance, take heart! The prospect of universally accepted statism is not favored by all, and in the ranks of the G20, further embedded in the European Union, is a man who is following his convictions.

Vaclav Klaus is the president of the Czech Republic and an outspoken proponent of sanity. Klaus is a former economist who despises the state controlling individual’s lives. He holds the view that Europe is now similar to the antebellum of WWII. Inasmuch as Europe was controlled by several large powers then, he sees the same happenings now.

Mr. Klaus’s beloved Czech Republic has been privatizing much of their economy, and although under pressure from the global crisis, they are still maintaining. GDP growth has been around 6 percent and the country has imposed flat taxes. For those unacquainted with flat taxes, it means that people are all treated as equals; everyone pays the same proportion of their income. Rather than have the middle class berate the upper income class to pay the poor, individuals are not punished for productivity — how novel.

So how does Mr. Klaus the trendsetter feel about the "real" issues like global warming and our current economic "let the kids pay it" policies? Mr. Klaus said of climate change, "environmentalism, which is a new anti-individualistic, pseudo-collectivistic ideology based on putting nature and environment and their supposed protection and preservation before and above freedom." Rather refreshing.

What of our most recent and glorious economic stimulus? Mr. Klaus has the audacity to consider our recent central planning a "way to ruin." Personally, I prefer his prime minister’s characterization of a "road to hell." While holding the rotating EU presidency, Mr. Klaus has used the platform to champion an alternate viewpoint on many issues, for which I applaud him.

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