Europe Will Smother Irish Democracy

Thursday 12th June 2008 was a great day for democracy (although we only learned about the results on Friday 13th).
This was the day Irish democrats voted against the Lisbon Treaty with a decisive majority.
Nosher and I heard the news on the radio whilst relaxing at lunchtime in our old deckchairs outside Nosher's dilapidated shed on our allotment.
'If the Irish "no" voters think that this is the end of the matter' Nosher declared 'they will be sorely disappointed.'
I nodded and smiled. One thing that Nosher and I are in full agreement on is the subject of Europe.
'Most of the political elite of Ireland are committed to Europe' I said 'so they won't let a little problem like democracy stand in their way.'
'Yep' agreed Nosher 'next year there'll be another referendum, with the issues even muddier than before, and if they lose that one, the following year there'll be another, until the Irish electorate get so pissed off with it they simply give up objecting. The depressing fact is that Europe is fundamentally anti-democratic, and always has been.'
'That's not what our political elite tell us here in England, of course' I said 'but most of our political elite know that a European superstate will offer them more opportunity to feather their own nests, so of course they're in favour of Europe.'
'Well, Europe has never done anything for me' explained Nosher 'I'm 75 years old, live on the basic state pension, and I and millions of others like me feel forgotten and abandoned by our own government, whilst more and more European regulations are foisted on England that make life more difficult and more expensive for us. Europe has always been disinterested in the poor, and is merely a gravy-train for the Euro-politicians and Eurocrats.'
'So far as I'm aware, the only English people who support Europe are the political elite, most of the media, and the relatively well-off who can afford holidays to Europe and holiday homes there. Since the wealth divide in this country is widening by the minute, the proportion of the population who are actually worse off through us being in the EU grows with every passing second.'
'Not that we'll ever get the chance to vote on it' said Nosher 'the political elite of this country know that Europe is unpopular with the voters, so we'll never have another referendum, and they'll just carry on giving away our basic rights and freedoms to unelected Eurocrats in Brussels, whilst telling us it's for our own good.'
'It's almost enough to destory one's faith in democracy' I said.
More from www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com soon.
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