Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Brexit Looks More Likely

The movement in the United Kingdom to have their country leave the European Union is one we've followed. The Washington Post reports Prime Minister David Cameron has decided to allow his cabinet ministers to take either position - in or out - on Brexit, as it is called in Brit slang.

Candidly, the European Union has always been a conspiracy by European elites to frustrate popular democracy. The "body language" has consistently been that of technocrats who know best what is good for their people, people who can't be trusted to choose the right path via elections.

Traumatized by World War II and its aftermath, Europeans put up with being told to shut up and let the experts run things for decades, but perhaps not much longer. After all, those people who actually remember how bad things were during and after the war are now in their 70s or older ... many already dead.

The few times member countries have allowed their people to vote on acceptance or rejection of EU initiatives have often resulted in rejections. I expect Europe will find that self-help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous have been right all along, if folks don't want something, you can't really get their continuing cooperation.