Content Feed
Subscribe via EmailMy father-in-law is very engaged in the political discussions around the UK's loss of sovereignty to the EU. This is his post for today:
"The European Union has achieved the great dream of the Great war generation,"Well said Greg.
President Sarkozy said today at Verdun
No, no, no. Their blood was not shed for this.
The great War generation was fighting for freedom from tyranny. The European Union eats into that hard fought for freedom, tiny bit by tiny bit on a daily basis, with the support of our politicians.
From Roger Scruton's "The Nation-State and Democracy":The result of Jean Monnet's plan is there for all to see: an unaccountable bureaucracy presiding over a continent that has been cast adrift from its traditional aspirations and historical ties. Europeans have been disenfranchised by the European machine, which has at the same time resolutely refused to address the real problems of Europe's future. Of course, these problems (demographic decline, adverse immigration, the imminent collapse of the welfare state) might have arisen without the project of Union: but one thing is certain, which is that the project has weakened the authority of European governments and put no rival authority in their place. The unaccountable nature of the European institutions, their ability to spend money on themselves and to clutter the continent with their fantasy projects, their endless production of absurd and malicious regulations -- all these things have deprived the EU of legitimacy in the eyes of the European people. But the Union remains, immune to any action that its "citizens" can take, cushioned from all popular resentment by the national governments that shield it from the people. If proof were needed for the proposition that the nation-state is the friend of democracy, and transnational government the foe, then the European Union is it.
My Grandfather gave his life at Ypres, in the trenches, for my freedom from the aspirations of a tyranny that wanted to remove British Sovereignty. Our politicians have allowed that to happen without a fight. Shame on you all on this day.
By: Stuart McIntyre | 4 Comments | On: 11 November 2008 20:00:00 | Tags: remembrance europe
Comments
Please read up on WW1 history, kthx.
I've been watching the EU unfold over the past eon and share the concerns and regrets voiced. I live in the US of course, but Europe has always been viewed from here as the progressive model to follow by the left end of the political elite. Sadly, our present (moderate conservative) president seems to under estimate the watering down that occurs with overly expansive unions as we have been thrust into more free trade agreements, laying the ground work for similar future Unions.
@Nils - Don't be a troll. Try providing some education if you see it lacking.
It is hardly my job to educate the ignorant (you called me a troll, so I can return the favor), but here is the short version:
WW1 was not a war against tyranny (you are thinking of WW2). Occupation or annexation of Great Britain was never a goal of WW1 (again, you are thinking of WW2). England entered the "Great War" after Belgian neutrality was violated by Germany in an attempt to quickly neutralize France. Germany moved through Belgium because it assumed that England would stay out of the war despite having guaranteed Belgian neutrality.
Indeed, the only goal Germany pursued towards Britain was to remove the UK from the war. This was done by submarine warfare as a response to the naval blockade of Germany.
Basically, your posting has no basis in historic reality. WW1 soldiers did not fight to keep tyranny at bay. They did not fight for the freedom of the UK.
So, again, please read up on WW1 history, kthx.
Besides the obvious errors that Nils pointed, I'm somewhat shocked (but not surprised) over the whole "UK vs rest of Europe" position.
If the people in the UK feel so strongly about their "sovereignty", perhaps they shouldn't have joined the EU in the first place. Europe is trying to move forward together and it's a shame if some EU members are still trying to move in their own direction.