"The Ottoman, Mughal, and Manchu empires were all alien, imposed, military despotisms: revenue pumps." - Eric Jones
The Talking Heads/Chattering Classes are against Brexit. But then, as always, they're ignorant as Hell, especially of history.
The EU was basically about England being ruled by Brussels. What the hell?
Years ago I read by a book by Eric Jones called The European Miracle. Why, asked Jones, did Europe end up exploding all over the world and creating nearly everything? Why did China, the Muslim world, and India, all of which showed promise, ended up pretty much collapsing and going backwards?
(By the way, you can find used copies of the book at Amazon for 50 cents if you look around a bit.)
Because, Jones realized, of the "1%." They ended up ruling their societies, were parasites, only interested in luxury and opulence, and took citizen's production to support themselves, leaving people poverty-stricken.
One European traveler to India several hundred years ago referred to the ordinary man over there living in "an Inferno."
These poverty-stricken societies were ruled from the top down.
That never happened in Europe. There were in fact hundreds of small governments who had to compete for highly-skilled workers (Germany used to be about 500 nations).
Let's put this way: World War I and World War II never happened until Europe was frozen into very large states.
It was different with the U.S. with our 50 states, all of whom even now have to compete for productive citizens. See what I mean? Competition.
The EU was about the "1%" crushing all of Europe. About sixty percent of England was subject to Brussels’ laws. No wonder England wanted out.
That "1%" over there was going to end up ruling all of Europe, taking away freedoms and wealth, and using every excuse in the world to justify it.
The only way the Talking Heads/Chattering Classes are right is in the way a stopped clock is right - every once a while, by accident.
Americans know what is going on. That's why three of the four most popular candidates were anti-Establishment in one way or another. And the Establishment is horrified by that, which accounts for their vicious attacks on Trump.
"Society is, always has been and always will be a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a wilful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses." - Richard K. Morgan
1 comment:
The idea of creating a free-trade network that would discourage future European wars wasn't necessarily a bad idea in principle, but it failed miserably because contemporary Europeans have completely forgotten everything they once might have known about Federalism. Letting local governments make their own decisions about taxes and safety regulations was unconscionable to the power-hungry bureaucrats packed into Brussels. The trouble with "free trade" rhetoric is that it usually gets co-opted by elites who turn it into an excuse to hyper-regulate everything.
I've personally experienced one example of such EU stupidity: travelling in Ireland, bar drinks are usually pretty small, pathetic, and overpriced compared to the US, because laws made in Brussels strictly control the size of each drink and the permissible prices. Spend enough time in an Irish-run bar in the States, and a track record of good tipping will usually get you a stronger pour or occasional free drinks. According to Brussels, though, that's a barrier to "free trade".
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