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to be anything but the guy from Cleveland (plus New York, Toronto,
Milan, and London) that I was. I did not want Italy either to accom–
modate me or to be exotic; I wanted to live and get on with my work in
a part of the world where I felt at home-and not at home-enough to
satisfy my peculiar psychological needs.
I detest the stereotype of an
a-sale-mia
Italy, frozen in time, an
anachronism within the European Union. Italy is one of the world's
great economic powers, has the lowest birthrate in the world, and is a
leader not only in the worlds of fashion and race cars but also in the arts
a nd sciences.
It
must now modernize its bu rea ucracy, socia I services,
and salary system. The problem is that the Italians-whom I admire not
least of all because they are the most naturally unpatriotic, anti–
nationalistic people on the face of the earth (I am speaking of attitudes
toward politics, not way of life; and I know that I am quintessentializ–
ing)-are enthusiastic about the EU for reasons that are not entirely in
good faith. Federico Fellini said that fascism was able
to
take root in
Italy not because people believed in its rhetoric but beca use the regime
absolved them of having
to
make decisions. The Duce and the party
want
to
run things? So much the better for everyone else! Nothing that
happens from now on is anyone's fault but "theirs." And in this sense,
what Mussolini was to Italy seventy years ago the EU is today. Social
justice, environmental laws, economic planning:
to
have all such matters
decided in Strasbourg or Brussels or Frankfurt rather than in Rome is
the declared or secret hope of many Italians. The process will cost them
cold cash, but the problems won't demand constant attention at home.
Italians will then be able
to
carryon doing as II Sodom3 did-putting
on a proper, serious front, but behaving as they please.
To tell you the truth, I hope that they'll succeed.
W E
MOURN THE I'ASSI N(; OF
ROBERT NOZICK
L938-2002
A FRIEND
