The LuLac Edition #3236, June 25th, 2016
WHAT THE BRITISH VOTE MEANS
TO U.S.
For people with short memories the aftermath of World War II was both a triumphant and scary time for Britain. The nation had been involved in two major World Wars in less than twenty two years. A forcibly retired Churchill was even calling for a formation of a European confederation of states similar to the U.S. But Churchill, deposed from power had no takers. As a matter of fact for years Britain had held itself at bay from the other nations. And that was fine with them. Remember that Britain was denied admission to the Union until 1973 and when it did join it kept their own currency.
Much has been said about England being our cousins because the U.S. after all founded it’s own nation. It is my belief that we became greater than Britain because our founding fathers had the vision to form a strong federal Government that consisted of states. Many Constitutional experts yammer on about gun rights and the second amendment but I can assure you that there was more on their minds when the nation was founded than that. The formation of a Federal government came from wise men who were not afraid of taking a chance.
Europe has always fought a united identity. And who can blame them given the long history of each country. The American experiment worked because we were newborns. Europe had entrenchments. It could not.
When this union was formed no one would ever pick Britain to be the first to bail. But they did.
This campaign to stay or leave has all the earmarks of an influence of one Mr. Donald Trump. That is true.
The campaign on behalf of Leave was full of lies and misrepresentations.
One of the big whoppers was to seniors who were told the money saved from leaving the EU would go to health care. The leader of the group admitted on BBC that it wasn’t correct. When the presenter pressed him on why this was part of the campaign, he admitted it was part of the act. Sound familiar?
Immigration was also touted as the big bad factor but in fact Britain has the least amount of immigrants. But the point was made that people from other countries were taking the jobs away from Brits. Just like here.
When the history of the 21st century is written the way that people who were different, who were immigrants will go down as one of the most shameful episodes in our Republic.
The issue in Britain and the U.S. is that people are trying to protect the nation they are comfortable with. The world has changed and there are segments who wonder where their place will be. It is ironic but the whole way of thinking is ass backward. People who voted Leave in Britain and those Trump supporters in the U.S. are actually threatened by those with less than they have. Pretty pathetic for “Christian” nations, heyna?
One day the 52% who voted in this election are going to wake up and see what a travesty this vote was. Here’s why:
1. The EU will be glad to see Britain go but they will make an example out of them to dissuade other nations from trying it. The benefits enjoyed by the union will be compromised.
2. Watch for no more free movement of Britain citizens to other part of Europe. The UK Ex Pats are going to be in for the shock of their lives.
3. The Leaves are similar to Trump because they are short on specifics.
4. Every trade deal will have to be re negotiated. Now trade will not drop down to zero….but things will get complicated.
This is essentially a divorce. Having avoided one and having friends who have gone through them, I can tell you they get messy. Multiply that by a million when t comes to a country and a continent.
This election had a 72% turnout and that’s a good thing. But the level of discourse, like here was not great. When I see the campaigns conducted I think of how people say that they distrust the establishment, ie the people in power. Fair enough but what are their plans?
We have become a world of haters of educated people. There’s a name they call them, “the elite”. Elite and educated have become bad words in this political culture. The elite become elite by busting their asses, going to school and rising through the corridors of power in business and industry. The resentment against experts as I heard on the radio today is worn as a badge of honor and has become a campaign slogan here and in Britain.
For this country, Britain is the canary in the coal mine. No one thought the Leaves would win, not even some of the Leaves, but they did. No one thinks Donald Trump will win here but he might because he is using Immigration and Nationalism as a battering ram for those angry, disaffected, uneducated, envious voters who latch on to slogans and catch phrases. The British voted Leave because they wanted to take their country back. The U.S. might be doing the same thing. But we have keep asking the question just who are we taking the country back from? And who do we want to give it to? A guy who goes to Scotland and touts his golf course while all the money markets are crashing over this event? A guy who stands in Scotland and tweets that they voted the right way when in fact they didn’t?
The Leave campaign succeeded by using fear and deception. Apparently that’s okay in this culture because as someone on CNN said Friday night, we are in the age of the Death of expertise and the Death of fact.
The Leave campaign and Donald Trump are the Funeral Directors.
TWIN MINE SHAFTS CEREMONY SATURDAY
On Sunday, June 28, 1896, 58 men and boys were killed when the roof caved in at the Red Ash Vein of the Newton Coal Company’s Twin Shaft Mine. The victims were buried 434 feet below the ground. In their wake, they left 31 widows and 101 orphans. Because of the cave in, no bodies were ever recovered.
The tragedy was is considered one of the largest coal mining disasters in Pennsylvania history, even larger than the Knox Mine Disaster, which occurred in January 1959 near Port Griffith.
During the ceremony, there will be a reading of the names of all the victims. (Source: Sunday Dispatch, LuLac)
posted by David Yonki @ 12:22 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Dave,
Why do you get so upset when people don't do what you, or a select few, think is best?
The British people have been living the EU for decades, and for those without means, but not the abject poor, the EU has not been such a great experiment. Much like in the US the middle classes take the brunt of the burden. These countries are collapsing under the weight of the expense required to maintain the well-intention programs. Something had to give. Is the exit the answer, I don't know, and neither does anyone else, but 52% of 72% of the eligible voters turned out and spoke with a majority voice. Not everyone of them are blithering idiots easily swayed by election propaganda.
In the US, as in Europe, the same can be said for social programs; they help the abject poor, those with means are not effected, but the burden is passed to those in the middle and they are the ones who take on the financial costs as well as the physical and emotional stress related costs of being crushed to maintain these programs. That is why someone like Trump, a perceived political outsider, appeals to them. Not because they are stupid, but because they are at the ends of their proverbial and sadly, often times literal, ropes.
The "elite" are vilified by both sides. The fact is much of, but not all, the "elite" has had their positions handed to them --- proportionally few of them had to work their asses off to obtain their positions.
The people who are actually working their asses off, trying to put food on the table, and heat their homes, are the ones charged with paying the bill for the grandiose programs enacted by those of the "elite ruling classes."
All politicians use fear and hate to promote themselves or their objectives.
How many democrats play, among others, the race and socioeconomic cards? How many republicans play up abortion and gay marriage? There is plenty of bullshit, fear mongering propaganda on both sides to go around. Proponents of each side love to point it out on the other, all the while, ignoring the same that goes on within their own ranks. People need to take the blinders off and stop putting political parties and ideology over individual persons.
Political campaigns are NEVER about the positive, nor have they ever been --- Just go back to Jefferson/Adams.
Good feelings don't drive people to the polls, fear and anxiety do.
The democrats could never get a national health care policy passed when times were good, or people were healthy, because people had insurance or didn't require it. An economic crises, along with increases in poor dietary choices, obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, (all made possible by corporate government subsides, aka corporate welfare) were required to push people to actually need more care, to in turn allow passage of legislation, just as the fears of gay marriage pushed people to the polls to get GW Bush elected. Correctly or incorrectly, people react when they think that they, or their way of life, is being assailed.
As long as their are political parties; political vitriol will exist, and those on each side will point it out on the opposing side, while ignoring or worse, justifying it, on their own.
(continued)
......
The truth is we don't know how Great Britain will fare and since the vote is not even binding we don't even know if they will actually pull out of the EU.
What we do know is people had a chance to participate, and they did so in droves. We also know that in a world of billions of people, we must stop putting decisions that effect those people in the hands of a relatively interbred few.
The "elite" few, spurred on by their own greed and lust, whether it be for money, power or legacy, rarely act in the best interest of those they seek to help, because the truth is, aid is not what they are giving, it is the fruits of labor which they are taking and exploiting.
It may be a great time, because perhaps, a world-wide revolution of common people may finally be happening. Perhaps those in the middle, not so poor as to be convinced they require dependence, will take a stand for themselves, and push for governments to allow them the opportunity to thrive, or yes, even to fail. Or maybe, just the opposite will happen, and the common people of the world will be pushed to greater reliance on the largess of the "elite" few.
Yet, we must ask what is driving this both here and across the pond. Are the middle classes starting to tire of the attitude that they are unable to make the appropriate decisions concerning their own lives or their own welfare? Are the people tired of the justification that they must be forced to do what is best for themselves?
The "elitist" that populate many governments and academic institutes are, in their own minds, all knowing. To be good citizens, they are convinced that the populace must be automatons — blindly, blissfully following the educated, egalitarian ways of the elite. These elite believe do believe in equality. Of course, to be considered equal, people must embrace the self aggrandizing viewpoint thrust upon them ... if not they are labeled as stupid or non-thinking.
Laws have gone beyond public safety. Laws, under the control of governments, have begun to determine the way free citizens conduct their daily lives. From purchasing health insurance, to parenting, to education, to morals (see the mayor of London banning advertising), to religion (again London Mayor, body shaming is an excuse for religious doctrine). Maybe people are tired of being oppressed via government "kindness and compassion."
Why is it defenders of freedom only believe in freedom, if it agrees with their doctrine of cohesive, communal behavior?
Why is it that once the people step out of the box and vote for their own true individual freedom, do they become objects of scorn and ridicule?
The "elite" are fanatically convinced that they are correct. And, if those who embrace living in a free society don’t abide by their definition of what is best, then the "elite" demand government be the instrument to force it upon the citizens. (See the pre WWII fascist party of Italy and the National Socialist Party of Germany).
The "elite" genuinely believe that government has a responsibility to control the people — the stupid, simple, unenlightened, uninformed, muddled masses, as they are considered to be.
The populations of Europe, as is happening now in the US, did not need to be beaten into submissive servitude. No, they were conciliated into it. And now, some have woken up to the fact that they have willingly given away their freedoms to taskmasters who are not even part of their own community or country.
It is so very sad, that when people want to take back their freedoms of thought and behavior which they were convinced to surrender, the "elite" oppressors are no longer so much in favor of democracy.
A person consumed by academia usually can't experience the world. They learn information.
In school:
An "A" student learns information.
"B and C" students learn concepts.
An "A" student answers questions on a test.
"B and C" students learn how to apply information gleamed from both a text and life to solve problems.
Academics see black and white. They're limited vision does not permit them to see past the data, thus, they are trapped by information.
Experienced persons, educated by multiple avenues, see color, thus, they are set free by information.
An academic almost exclusively learns information and when presented with 10 X 10 as having one answer, 100.
A smart person, educated by experience, one who learns and understands broad concepts, when presented with 10 X 10 don't see an answer, they envision 100 possibilities.
The academic is trapped, and they desire control.
The experienced person is free, and they desire increased freedom.
Jeez Dave, Brexit had all the earmarks of Trump? Said with bitter condescension. Give the people who vote credit for seeing and realizing how their country lost its independence. Brussels ruled them with regulations and dictate. It was time to attempt to throw off the shackles of an indifferent government. If anything we have deemed Trump to take on that task. Yeah for our cousins across the pond.
@ 9:38 & 12:19
Excellent missive. I read it twice. Hard to argue with the points since I totally agree with every premise. I hope to God Yonk will someday see the light and realize we can no longer afford to continue on the path our liberal Democrats have us on. The pendulum must swing with force enough to achieve such change.
THE mayor of Calais says migrants living in the Jungle camp and others in France should be moved to Britain so Brits “take the consequences” of Brexit.
I'm sure we can all draw the same conclusion on this little tantrum.
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