by Glenn N. Holliman
Here in the United States, we are engaged in our prolong effort to elect the next U.S. President. Due to the personalities running this cycle, it is all too easy to focus only on the politics of our North American continent. However, a profound and long lasting decision is about to be made by the voters of the United Kingdom this June that must command our attention.
Will the United Kingdom, long term and very important international partner of the United States, remove itself by referendum from the European Union? Composed of many nations and over 400,000,000 peoples, this federation, born out of two horrible World Wars, has sought to encourage trade, remove border barriers and establish commonly held law and civil rights.
Will the United Kingdom, separated by the Channel, proud of its history and troubled by bureaucrats in Brussels dictating regulations, succumb to nationalist pride and detach itself after forty-plus years from the Union? Our friend in Normany, France, Terry Field, a patriotic Englishman, chimes in with these thoughts. They are worthy of a quiet read.
"When I was a kid we had a boy's magazine called 'The Eagle'. There, a hero called Dan Dare fought a hellish looking guy with a tiny body and a massive green head that lived in a glass bubble carried by slaves. The head's name was the 'mekon' (g missing for legal reasons!). And he scared the hell out of us five year olds.
With this fearsome character in mind, I am depressed beyond words about the 'brexit' referendum. It really is on a knife edge now, and I fear that the momentum is with the British Exit brigade. Some English are excited and really strident about it all. Any objection to an 'exit' is 'scaremongering', 'lying' or 'corrupt'.
Below at an outpost of European Civilization, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City - Terry, Barbara Holliman and Josephine Field.
Below at an outpost of European Civilization, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City - Terry, Barbara Holliman and Josephine Field.
Here is my prediction if the country exits the European Union.
The economic crisis so long deferred in Britain will strike unremittingly and very hard indeed. The country is de-industrialised to a frightening degree, has the largest 'trade' deficit' in the 'developed' world, is possessed of little that can be profitably exported, whatever the value of the currency, and its only primary generator of wealth - the 'City' and the financial institutions, will rapidly move to other jurisdictions - Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris, Holland.
The old ruling Tory elites dream of recovering their control. An illusion, but they will spill much economic and social blood in the trying.
This is held in check by the perceived geopolitical position of the UK. 'Brexit' will replace that in the centres of global thinking with a perception of a romantically unstable, isolated, small, mean-minded absurdity. There will be vengeance from the Europeans, and there will be failure to partner and trade with the 'Old Commonwealth' as it is called - the 'white' parts of the old empire.
The reduction of the country has been deferred by political and socio-economic postures that the ruling elite understood required to be undertaken.
The referendum shatters that - the mass of the population, who know nothing, and are chaff to the media, now drive the policy.
The referendum shatters that - the mass of the population, who know nothing, and are chaff to the media, now drive the policy.
I have never seen this. It will, I fear, end in catastrophe.
I have good friends who argue for exit from the E.U. However, I hear in these arguments echos of the nationalisms that have repeatedly smashed societies across this continent.
Blood soaked soils; shattered dreams.
Blood soaked soils; shattered dreams.
But so much easier to rabble rouse than to slog on with the daily grind of making things less bad than they would otherwise have been.
Extreme socialist, statist anti-democratic autocracy in Europe has played a powerful part in the generation of this crisis, and the EU is on a knife edge of survival, but collapse of the political construct will condemn Europe to comparative, and probably absolute economic failure.
As Voltaire advised I 'cultivate my garden'. I service the outlying remotely controlled machine guns on the borders of the estate, just in case. (No doubt Homeland Security are tuning in at this point.)
Off to the cabbage patch.
Every good wish
Terry"
COMMENTS
From our Scholar in the English Midlands -
Apart from my horror at the prospect of our government losing the referendum, and my no longer being a citizen of the EU, my sadness is concerned with the shallow manner of debate on both sides. Their arguments are all of the 'what's in it for us?' sort. Whatever happened to idealism? Whatever became of the great European dream? Alas, on the referendum's ballot paper, there will be only two options: 'in' (with a little less Europe, because of the so-called negotiations carried out to date); 'out' (soi-disant 'Brexit') - there is no option for 'even more Europe', so that us idealists could really express our opinion.
From a retired businessman, who along with his American wife founded a world class county hotel in Devonshire, England -
I have read many of the blog comments. Having lived in England for almost 45 years, I will definitely vote out, as will most of my close friends here in Devon. Why? Britain joined a trading union in the 1970s, and the EU bureaucracy developed what has become an alternative social government.
Your correspondents living in France praise the system there, good healthcare, great food, fast trains. It can't last with a state mandated 35 hour work week. French food is great but even 20 years ago small restaurants couldn't find staff willing to work for the wages that the 35 hour week requires for small businesses. I love the France that I have known for the last 50 years, but it will not be as nice 50 years on.
The Euro cannot last long, maybe beyond my years, but it is not a sustainable currency.
What is democracy, when five states have half the population of the EU but the other 23 can block anything? Why should Malta or Cyprus have an equal voice to Britain, France or Germany?
It will be complicated for Britain to leave, and the attachment deals with many of these questions.
http://www.eureferendum.com/themarketsolution.pdf
From a Cousin in Alabama interested in World Politics -
Very informative article. Did not know that a vote was coming up so soon
Thanks for the observations by your friend Terry. I could not agree more with him. I especially liked his last observation that it is "easier to rabble rouse than to slog on with the daily grind of making things less bad."
Today's NYT Arts section has an article by Dwight Garner entitled "70 years on, its politics as usual: Robert Penn Warren's 'All the King's Men' is a salty, living thing." Garner quotes the following advice given to Willie Stark by a political advisor after one of Willie's speeches flopped:
"Just stir 'em up, it doesn't matter how or why, and they'll love you and come back for more. Pinch 'em in the soft place. They aren't alive, most of 'em, and haven't been alive for 20 years. Hell, their wives have lost their teeth and their shape, and likker won't set on their stomachs, and they don't believe in God, so it's up to you to give 'em something to stir 'em up and make 'em feel alive again. Just for half an hour. That's what they come for. Tell 'em anything. But for Sweet Jesus' sake, don't try to improve their minds."
That quotation is too cynical for me. Warren certainly was cynical about human nature. I am not there yet, but any sense of optimism about human nature that I have is slowly disappearing as I get older and as I observe recent events......in North America and in Europe......and, hell, I haven't even mentioned the Middle East.
From a Well-Read, Well-Traveled Architect of Historical Preservation in Florida -
I just saw an article today on Gibraltar and what effect an exit from the EU might have on it. I hope that this will add to the conversation.
http://www.npr.org/sections/
I’ve only just had time to read Terry’s article. Fascinating, and he has definitely persuaded me that the UK should not leave – not just his argument itself, but I respect him so much from what he’s written in the past. Tomorrow I’ll scan down and read the other arguments.
A United Methodist pastor from Tennessee -
Particularly drawn to the cynicism of R.P.Warren today ... thanks for sharing ... I plan to do so also ...
From a founder of the United Kingdom Independent Party and a retired Royal Air Force Pilot -
Dear Glenn thanks for the email. Here is my take upon the Brexit debate in response to my friend Terry Field's gloomy assessment, perhaps you might put this out on your blog.
Last week the British Government decided it would spend a total of £16 million of taxpayers money upon the the Remain campaign in the upcoming UK referendum upon the country's membership of the European Union but that the Leave campaign would only receive £7 million.
The Remainians (sic) quote many organisations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Royal society charities for the protection of Animals and Birds who urge us not to leave the EU plus many many more NGOs.
What they all have in common is EU funding which is actually part of the UK taxpayers membership fee to belong to the EU that is recycled and used to buy their loyalty. The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 news also receive EU funding. In Brussels there are 25,000 lobbyists which represent the massive corporations in the world, they are there to influence the lawmaking process which actually makes up 75% of each EU country's law.
Terry Field was right in that, in spite of this, we have the momentum and the passion which may give us victory.
The Remanians campaign is to scare us into submission.
We in the Leave campaign are much more optimistic for the UK when we become free. Just like you with an independent confident USA, we shall still have god-almighty debts. But we shall not have to obey the 50,000 rules of the EU and the world will be our oyster especially recovering trade with the Angloshere countries with whom within the EU straight jacket we are not allowed to conduct trade negotiations.
We are an Island race and that geographical fact has saved us many time in past crises. Within the EU there is free movement but although we can check passports, we have to allow anyone with an EU passport to enter the country whether they be good, bad or indifferent. The Brussels bombers for instance had EU passports so we could not stop them coming into the UK whether we wished to or not.
Our infrastructure is collapsing under the weight of numbers. There are queues for schools, doctors, houses and outside accident and emergency hospitals. We advocate a fair immigration system similar to the Australian points system where we select quality rather than quantity and geared to our needs.
We cannot do this within the EU as it would be against the law to limit EU immigration.
Lastly I will mention the steel crisis in the UK. Right now we face the closure of steel making in Britain due to the dumping of cheap Chinese product. The US introduced an anti dumping tariff upon China of some 150% as your steel industry is of strategic importance to you. Here in Britain we could do no such thing as this is dealt with at EU level and we are forbidden to handle this unilaterally. Nor can we introduce subsidies as this is also forbidden. To add insult to injury our own Government has sent some of our international aid money to the Chinese steel industry!
I do not think that you in the USA would accept such limitations upon your freedom of action. All I have done is scratch the surface of the issues we face but be in no doubt we shall fight our campaign with vigour, determination and goodwill to our European neighbours. And in spite of the unfairness we face we shall win because it simply makes sense to say goodbye.
Again from Australia, our playwright and author -
Now I’d like to see some debate between the ‘Remainian’ Terry, and the ‘Brexit’ writer. After reading the latter I am now swaying once again somewhere in the middle.
All I can add, which I admit is distracting to the main debate, is to take one quote from each man and relate it to Oz.
Firstly, Brexit with: Our infrastructure is collapsing under the weight of numbers. There are queues for schools, doctors, houses and outside accident and emergency hospitals. We advocate a fair immigration system similar to the Australian points system where we select quality rather than quantity and geared to our needs. In Oz we are also plagued by population overwhelming roads, hospitals, prisons, and schools. And while we are not tied to the EU and do have the freedom to select quality over quantity, we seem bludgeoned by the golden-hearted loud minority who reel with horror at the word ‘discriminatory’, a word which I believes deserves respect when used advisedly, and they advocate allowing anyone in need to be welcomed to this country regardless of how they arrived or what their beliefs may be.
More from Brexit: Lastly I will mention the steel crisis in the UK. Right now we face the closure of steel making in Britain due to the dumping of cheap Chinese product. The US introduced an anti dumping tariff upon China of some 150% as your steel industry is of strategic importance to you. Here in Britain we could do no such thing as this is dealt with at EU level and we are forbidden to handle this unilaterally. Nor can we introduce subsidies as this is also forbidden. To add insult to injury our own Government has sent some of our international aid money to the Chinese steel industry!
And once more I blush to say that while Australia is ‘free’ to restrict the importation of cheap Chinese steel, it has not done so, and major steel industries are closing all over Oz, one here in my State which will put thousands out of work. It seems that short term profits have dulled our vision and our wits, and what with China stepping in to buy up much of our outback land and much of our fertile food bowls, we are heading to become poor tenants of our Chinese landlord. But I really do digress too much from the EU debate, and for this I apologise.
Now for Terry’s quote: the mass of the population, who know nothing, and are chaff to the media, now drive the policy.
This is happening in Australia too, especially concerning the nuclear debate. In my State of South Australia we have the most geographically stable areas on the planet, and we export yellow cake to other countries, and yet the strident so-called ‘greens’ keep spreading fear and misinformation about the horrors of a nuclear waste ‘dump’ which is on the agenda at the moment.
This ‘dump’, as the media mischievously insist upon calling it, will be a state-of-the-art storage facility which has proved itself in many countries such as Sweden to be completely secure and green (as opposed to the coal mines which pollute the atmosphere and which have killed more people in the world than any nuclear facility), and which will bring in to our state much needed revenue.
The stifling of the debate swells when it comes to the idea of actually building a nuclear power plant, some of the most persuasive anti-nuclearites being educated Green politicians. These people are consigning us to a world of coal-based energy, of course, because renewables such as wind and solar cannot provide enough base load for these very same strident people who want to travel by plane and car and have lights and heat and cooling. (Oh, and they want X-rays of course)
Once again, my digression is inexcusable. Are there Glenn Penalties for obfuscating his blogsite like I’ve done?
No penalties at all! Glenn
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