I thought this looked quite nice.
Posts Tagged ‘democracy’
Election Night
Sunday, May 9th, 2010Government Isn’t Us
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010President Obama recently spoke at the University of Michigan. In his speech, he criticised those who attack government as inherently bad. He stated that such people fail to comprehend that “in a democracy, Government is us.”
Why Obama Is Wrong – 1. Democracy?!?
At some level, democratic governments are supposed to be the collective will of the people. But let’s think about that for a second.
In the 2008 election, approximately 63 million votes for Obama were cast. That’s about a fifth of the people. You can’t claim that every policy you want is justified by the fact that a fifth of Americans voted for you, even if fewer voted for the alternative. At the very least, Obama should be saying that Government should be us.
Moreover, this is a rather disturbing example of the belief that 50%+1 should be able to set the rules for everyone. If you’re in the majority, you can get whatever you want; in the land of “we”, people have to give and take. Perhaps for students at the University of Michigan, in a town which voted 70% for Obama, the President meant “We, the majority” rather than “We, the People.”
Why Obama Is Wrong – 2. If Government Is Us, Why Does the State have Special Powers?
Is it right if I lock you up? Can I take thousands of pounds with the threat of force if you do not comply? Can I order a drone to blow you to smithereens? No. No. No.
If we agree with Mr. Obama, then it is morally OK for a large group of people to do things which would be wrong if individuals did them. Indeed, as noted above in the Democracy section, Obama would seem to believe that a sufficiently large mob becomes moral by virtue of its size alone.
There are reasons why the State has some special powers – some theorists might consider it a Social Contract whereby individuals trade some liberty for security. It remains the case, however, that Government is an entity that is supposed to work on our behalf, rather than “us”.
If Government is Not “Us”, What Is?
What can be termed “us” accurately? It would have to be the sum of everyone’s interactions with everyone else. There are two words we could use for this – Society, or the Market. The former implies non-financial interactions and the latter the opposite, but in reality, they are interchangeable. Why? If one stops looking at the Market narrowly as exchange of money and looks at it more broadly as the exchange of our wants and needs, one can include the way we choose to spend our time and amuse ourselves as well.
There is such a thing as Society. It’s not the same as Government, but it is the same as the Market.
Why we must leave the European Union
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008The EU is an undemocratic organisation with its own interests at heart; a racket to enrich its ruling elite. Unlike ordinary treaty organisations, its governing body, the European Commission, is designed to promote what is best for the European Union, not its member states or their citizens.
The European Parliament cannot propose legislation. Instead, it is the unelected European Commission, composed of fraudsters and other convicted criminals, which has legislative initiative. While the Commission can be asked to put forward legislation by Members of the European Parliament, it does not have to. There is a chilling effect here, because anti-EU MEPs will not bother asking for legislation they know will not be put forward.
About a quarter of EU laws do not fall under the “codecision procedure”. If they fall under the “assent procedure”, the European Parliament has power to veto but not amend proposals. Under “consultation procedure” the European Parliament cannot stop the legislation.
Almost 80% of UK law now comes from the EU, not from our elected and representative representatives in Westminster. MPs don’t want to admit how little power they have: during the recent media circus about post office closures, no major politicians would admit they could do nothing about it without leaving the EU: it was an EU initiative. (I do actually support privatising the post.) Small UK businesses are suffocating under pointless EU directives we can do nothing about, except leave the EU.
The Conservative Party say they want to be “in the EU, not ruled by the EU”. They say that since we will be so affected by the EU whether we are members or not, we might as well be members so that we have some say in its running.
This is not true. 10% of Britain’s trade is with people in EU countries, 10% with non-EU countries. 80% is internal. The cost of unnecessary regulation to businesses is enormous, and we do not need to be a member of the EU to trade with it. Indeed, the EU is an anti-free-trade organisation which therefore hurts the developing world: membership requires we put a 1.5% tariff on all non-EU trade, as well as further ad-hoc protectionist measures. If we really want free trade, we’ll unilaterally declare it. If other countries don’t, it’s their loss. It doesn’t even require any government agreement, let alone the EU.
The Conservative manifesto for MEP elections said that they wanted to
- “fight fraud and maladministration in Europe”
- “oppose Euro-Socialist efforts to impose new burdens on business, new Euro-taxes, new trade union privileges and new red tape”
- “complete the single market, to secure greater competition and wider consumer choice at lower prices”
- “defend Britain’s farmers and fishermen to ensure they get the best possible deal in Europe”
It is now clear that after 30 years in the EU, membership has given us no control over the direction the EU has taken. Fraud continues on an (almost) unimaginable scale, and the European Court of Auditors refused to sign off the EU accounts for the 13th year running (certain to become 14th year running in November). It is official practice now not to even bother investigating fraud under €1 million. We wouldn’t get any of the EU’s regulations if we weren’t members. Unilateral free trade will bring us greater competition and efficiency than anything else. The CAP and CFP will never be reformed, and even slight reform would be unacceptable: the only acceptable reform is their abolition, which we can effect for ourselves by leaving the EU.
A good example of the unreformability of the EU is the two parliament buildings in Strasbourg and Brussels. Moving various files and equipment back and forth between the two cities takes 10 large trucks, and the cost of having two locations is estimated at €200 million a year. A force of 30 men loads the trucks for the 250m journey between the two locations. Everyone agrees that having two buildings is pointless, except the French who don’t want to lose the parliament in Strasbourg. This grotesque waste and inefficiency cannot be reformed except by treaty, which will be vetoed by the French.
No one seriously believes the EU can be reformed, or that we have any control over it. We should leave immediately and stop contributing to its budget. Leaving will have no detrimental effects to us. The EU is the successor to the USSR: it is a socialist organisation designed to abolish the competition between nations which hinders government control of the economy (for example, tax competition).
Finally, take a look at some of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/europarl.
We want to trade with Europe, we want to cooperate with Europe, we want to be good neighbours with Europe, but we do not want to be governed by the dictatorship that is the European Union.
