Peace Prize Sham

In violent times, you shouldn't have to sell your soul
In black and white, they really, really ought to know
--Tears for Fears

Three years ago the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama. The fact that this president had only been in office for months raised more than a few eyebrows. More importantly, his actions before and since have been oriented toward division and violence rather than toward unity and peace.

This president has sought to expand the role in government in both domestic and foreign affairs. Government is force--violent intervention in people's lives. When government's scope grows beyond that necessary to protect people's liberty and property, social capacity for voluntary cooperation decreases.

In domestic affairs, this president favors policies that employ the strong arm of government to forcefully take from some for the benefit of others. In foreign affairs, this president has prosecuted numerous illegal wars that have killed thousands, provided arms to various militant groups, and presided over the ongoing expansion of US military power. He boasts of the assassination of Osama Bin Laden during his administration.

This is a man of peace? A true peace-loving president would be shrinking government to remove this mechansim of force-- the single most powerful mechanism of force in the world, in fact--from peoples' lives as much as possible.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has just been awarded to the European Union for 'promoting peace, democracy, and human rights for over six decades.' While countries have not been forced to join the EU, plenty of dissenting individuals in each member country were forced to play along. Indeed, 'promoting democracy' is promoting violence--violence exerted by the many on the few.

Now, individuals inside the EU are subject to increasingly greater force as EU officials desperately enact policies designed to 'preserve the union' (wink from Lincoln). For example, people are being robbed of their wealth through policies of suppressed interest rates, higher taxes, and devalued currency.

How can anyone pobjectively look at the EU currently and see a union of peace?

It seems the Nobel committee needs to consult a dictionary.