Those trendsetters in Europe are at it again!

 Members of the European Union exercising their fundamental right to lie around in the Riviera!

 

Last month the European Union declared the "right" to vacation as a fundamental right.  I'm here to ask when we're going to catch up to those genius lawmakers in Europe and start paying for me to hit the beach?
 

Actually, what Antonio Tajani (EU Commissioner for Industry) said was this:
"Traveling for tourism today is a right.  The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life."  He went on to say that this right is so compelling that the EU should subsidize it for the young, old, and poor.  In the end, it was agreed that the EU would pay for approximately 30% of the cost associated with international travel to encourage "cultural exchange" and "understanding."  And, of course, to ensure that everyone is able to assert his fundamental right to have a vacation in the South of France!

For those of you who didn't spend a long year suffering through Constitutional Law with Professor Collins, "fundamental rights" are those rights derived by natural law (like life, liberty and property, if you asked John Locke) and afforded the highest level of protection from the Supreme Court.  Some examples are the freedoms of speech, the press and religion; the right to have children (or not have children); the right to a fair and impartial jury; and the right to interstate travel.  Does this mean I can make Congress pay for a trip to Hawaii for me?  I have a right to interstate travel, and I live in Colorado...that's interstate travel...oh, shoot, that's not what they mean, is it???

Europeans have always been trend-setters in both fashion and human rights -- except Switzerland - did you know women didn't get the right to vote in Switzerland until 1971???  Just learned that.  And they really don't know how to dress either. 

Now that's what I call style!

But elsewhere in Europe, they really do know what's hot.

He's still very big in Europe, from what I understand!

Seriously, those English folks were demanding habeas corpus and due process way back at the Magna Carta in 1215.  Plus, slavery really wasn't seen much in Western Europe after the middle ages (ok, ok, they were all in on the slave trade to the Americas and were fine with making  money off it, but they didn't actually have slaves themselves in their European homelands -- I'm not sayin' there wasn't some hypocrisy!)  But this whole right to be a tourist thing is just taking it a little too far...I'm thinking there's such a thing as too much of a good thing!

My guess is that this whole nonsense started back in 1948 when the world community adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  I'm not here to dis the UDHR, it's a great document, inspirational, aspirational, blah blah blah blah...but really, Article 25 guarantees a "right to rest and leisure."  I'm wondering, how do they protect that right for mothers of multiples?  Oh - I know, they combine it with Article 13's "freedom of movement" and then come up with this beautiful new right...

And they say we're the nation of entitlement?  How's that for the pot calling the kettle black??

I don't know where this is, but I'm sure if members of Congress pool their frequent flier miles together they could send me there to find out!