In the UK the people have decided, the majority - not the politicians, not the banks, not the administrations, not the bureaucrats. Now the losing party, the Brexit foes, wants to nix the result. They get support from foreign money, which wants to interfere with British politics. The left-wing activist George Soros, a supporter of Hilary Clinton, is spending a lot of money for an anti-Brexit campaign (fortune).
Brexit is an example how a democracy should work. The majority decides, not a group of autocrats. The word democracy comes from the classic Greek word δημοκρατία dēmokratía, which literally means "the rule of people” (wikipedia). Brexit means that the UK is leaving an organization which is not democratic. The European Commission in Brussels has been gaining more and more power over the years - becoming a kind of European Central Government and developing the European Union into something like the defunct Soviet Union, a bundle of states ruled by a central government. The European Parliament and the EU committee, especially Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, treat the EU increasingly like a kingdom. Even after the Brexit decision they want to expand the power of the EU and demand more integration, meaning more power for Brussels.
In some weeks the Americans will celebrate their Independence Day (Fourth of July). They had fought a war because they didn´t want to be controlled by an foreign power and pay taxes to her. The British majority, the Brexiters, want independence as well - without a war. Many commentators who want to shame the "leave" decision, don´t understand democracy, they don´t want it. People, who claim that Brexit will cause "chaos", mean that democracy is chaos. They equalize ecoonmic freedom with disorder & disarray.
The Brexit haters may believe that they are better informed than the Brexiters. They may think that they know better what is good for Britain. But they are wrong. History shows that separations often went well. Taiwan separated in 1949 from Motherland China which led to a "period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy" (wikipedia). Today Taiwan has a per capita income of $49,800, about 3-times of China ($16,600). Hong Kong, which got separated in the 19th century, has a per capita income of $61,000. Singapore did even better. The tiny state had been a part of Malaysia, but got kicked out in 1965 after political conflicts (wikipedia). The independence brought Singapore swift economic growth. Today the state belongs to the most advanced economies of the world with a per capita income of $90,500 (all numbers are from the CIA World Factbook cia.gov) .
There is more evidence: Europe became the world’s most dynamic civilization after around the year 1500 partly because of political fragmentation and competition between multiple independent states, wrote the historian Niall Ferguson (bostonglobe). Small countries like The Netherlands became global powers. The Italian Renaissance is another example: A patchwork of independent city states, including Milan, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Genoa, Ferrara, Mantua, Verona and Venice, was competing against each other. This created a climate which fostered businesses, sciences & arts. Today Switzerland & Norway aren`t member of the European Community - and both countries are doing well. People worldwide are buying Swiss products & services and don´t care whether the country is part of an union or not.
Great Britain will become more attractive for businesses when the country isn´t controlled by Brussels anymore and will become more liberal (in the sense of Thatcher & Friedman) and less regulated. I suppose that the British economy will benefit from Brexit because the country will get rid of the EU over-regulation. "One of the very good things that could come of a Brexit: shaking off the Eurosklerosis that has held back growth in the Eurozone for many years", writes the economy blogger Scott Grannis ( scottgrannis ). Eurosklerosis describes a pattern of economic stagnation in Europe that resulted from government over-regulation and overly generous social benefits policies. 60% of Great Britain`s laws came from the EU in Brussels rather than from Parliament in London ( marketwatch.). It's not hard to understand being pissed off at being subject to unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels", writes Rolling Stone author Matt Taibbi ( rollingstone ).
No comments:
Post a Comment