United States of Europe

Anyone wanting to put Václav Klaus's 10 commandments against the European constitution into context might take a look at the United States of America. It's a federation of states, each of which has limited authority to regulate issues of day-to-day, but not global, importance. Connecticut, for example, can decide on civil unions but not federal deficits or de facto declarations of war. When the constitution gets in Washington's way, judges reinterpret it or politicians circumvent it. When states hesitate to adopt a federal policy, Washington withholds funding until they comply. In extreme cases (1861), the federal government goes to war to impose integration. With his 10 commandments, Klaus raised legitimate concerns about the EU constitution and was immediately called a liar. He's lucky that, so far, the only ammunition being used against him are words.