Richard,
We need an intellectual revolution, I agree. We also need a spiritual revolution. As you pointed out in your last post, “God is dead, and we have killed Him.” And so the state replaced God, because nature abhors a vacuum. And so the state is our Saviour, and we expect it to save us from all danger. In a less “sophisticated” age this notion would be called idolatry. By now most of us should be able to see and understand why the state makes for a poor deity. But it’s not just the ruling elites who maintain their faith in the face of all evidence to the contrary; this willingness to live with contradiction has been embraced by Joe Six Pack also. Both of the major parties in the US campaign on the basis that their way of having the government fix all the problems is the right one. And people are willing to buy it so long as the bread and circus continue. On a semi-related note, there was debate yesterday in the Globe and Mail comboxes on whether there is need for public broadcasting. I argued that there was; due to technology and information flow the only likely alternative would be the gradual replacement of national identities with a corporately-created world pop culture. It appears well on it way already when you see shopping malls in “Communist” China or a Taco Bell in Mexico City.

One more thing. I see another potential alternative route for Europe besides breakup and return to national polity. They might maintain their faith in the impossible and unity long enough to become a unified basket case ripe for takeover. By who or what will I’m sure come as a surprise.