Promoting the Obvious: Free Trade Between the US and the UK

Freedom from the EU: Why Britain and the U.S. Should Pursue a U.S.-U.K. Free Trade Area, with Nile Gardiner, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief, September 26, 2014. "A referendum on British membership in the European Union is scheduled for 2017. EU supporters argue that exit from the EU would hurt Britain’s economy and, in particular, its ability to negotiate trading arrangements with the rest of the world—a responsibility currently exercised by the EU on behalf of all of its member states. But there is every reason to believe that Britain, the world’s sixth-largest economy, would be able to negotiate trade agreements independently. If Britain does decide to leave the EU, one of its central priorities should be to negotiate a modern free trade area (FTA), based on sovereignty and freedom, with the United States. This is a goal that the U.S., which should abandon its policy of supporting the EU at the expense of the sovereignty of its member nations, should also champion."

Winners and Losers in Scotland

The Scottish Referendum: Who Won, Who Lost, National Interest, September 24, 2014. "It seems churlish to speak of winners and losers today, but, after all, the point of voting is to pick winners. The most important winner, of course, is the Union itself. Scotland, too, is a winner. Apart from the fact that it would have been worse off outside the Union, it has demonstrated that it’s possible—as it has been for centuries—to be both Scottish and British."

For Scotland, the Question of Prudence

Scotland’s Independence Vote: What thee United States Has at Stake, Big Peace, September 17, 2014. "No call for democratic self-government can leave Americans unmoved. But Americans also know that the Declaration of Independence cautions that “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.” The Anglo-Scottish Union is over 300 years old. The question of prudence is a serious one."

If At First You Don't Succeed, Vote, Vote Again

Vote Until You Get It Right: Ireland and the E.U., Redux, New Ledger, October 1, 2009. "The European Union Constitution, now gussied up as the Lisbon Treaty, is a remarkable document. Napoleon famously remarked that constitutions should be short and obscure. On that count, the Constitution scores one out of two: it is not short, but it is definitely obscure. What Napoleon curiously failed to appreciate was that length, if carried on for long enough, has an obscurity all its own. At 246 pages in its original form, and a svelte 248 pages as the Lisbon Treaty, the Constitution achieves a comprehensive triumph over comprehensibility."

The EU's Constitution, and the American One

Constitutions, Good and Bad, Contentions, September 18, 2009. "The U.S. Constitution was signed 222 years ago yesterday. But for all the reverence with which the Constitution is treated, Constitution Day isn’t one of the higher-visibility federal holidays. Perhaps that’s because, for most Americans, holidays are days on which you don’t have to go to work. Or perhaps it’s because, until 2004, the day was known—to the few who had heard of it—as Citizenship Day."