Books like Better Never to Have Been and folks like Toni Vernelli, Ed, and their fellow vegan, eco-conscious, non-fossil-fuel-burning, sprout-munching Greens are as risible as they are pathetic. What makes them more than a lamentable aberration is the way they echo and reinforce other instances of Western renunciation. Item: Last month, Gordon Brown’s government joined twenty-six other European countries in signing the Lisbon Treaty, i.e., the cynical reprise of the preposterous European Constitution that was roundly defeated by voters last year. It was one of Prime Minister Brown’s campaign promises to hold a referendum on the matter. What happened? Bureaucratic hauteur happened. It was quite clear that the voters in Britain would have rejected the Lisbon Treaty. Therefore, the voters must be ignored.

It is a sad moment for Britain. The lumbering machinery of the state has ridden roughshod over t ...