I will be celebrating England’s Independence Day in England, and America’s Independence Day in the US.
EU Referendum: Massive swing to Brexit – with just 12 days to go
Obama was in the UK recently campaigning against Brexit. It was the best pro-Brexit endorsement they could have asked for.
I really hope you do celebrate both. I am voting out and I urge any other UK reader of this column to do the same.
Let us hope that June 23rd for Britain becomes what July 4th is for the US. Don’t let them defraud you at the ballot box!
The EU could be the first great ‘progressive’ citadel to fall as a UK departure would precipitate Europe-wide rebellion to the hated EU. If we do Brexit then current PM Cameron is toast, Boris Johnson will become PM and there’ll be a huge cull of existing ministers, including many who’re sold on AGW.
Get the Donald in on your side of the pond and we’ll then have two significantly AGW sceptical governments in office with their own reputations to forge rather than salvage. The door to full-on scrutiny by sceptical minds will then be wide open.
I think if the UK goes it will be the beginning of the rot. Italy has already been making noises about getting out also. I think the single currency and the potential benefits for travel and trade were a good thing. But now the EU has become a European Federal Government that pays no more attention to their members sovereignty as independent nations than the US Federal government pays to states rights. Like all governments, the further it is from the people, the more power it will garner and the more likely it will be to abuse that power. This is a fundamental truth about governments that the leftist masses have never have understood and European politics is dominated by leftists.
The single currency was a massive mistake when it was introduced, absolutely guaranteeing the failure of the whole endeavour. It should have been the cherry on the top of the complete cake, not some half-assed scheme brought in long before taxation, pay rates and a vast number of other factors had been harmonised across all member states.
As to apparently believing that Greeks – and the Mediterranean states in general – with their laid-back Roman Catholic siesta mentality could be persuaded to adopt serious Northern European Protestant German work ethics at the stroke of a pen, well…
Hey Catweazle! If the members of the EU had simply agreed to each issue a commodity backed currency (gold? silver?) in common denominations, they would have actually achieved what they wanted. Suppose that the currencies were in 1 gram, 10 gram and 100 gram redeemable gold amounts. At that point the currencies would be stable and interchangeable, regardless of what country had their name the paper.
Naw…. What am I thinking?! That would prevent The Powers That Be from the profiting from massive fiat money issuance!
Brexit and Trump in the same year – is it possible?
I sincerely hope so!
The EU was always destined to fail. You cannot have a monetary union without a fiscal union. Greece is the result. You cannot have a ‘democracy’ run by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, with a Rubber stamp EU Parliament that cannot initiate legislation. UK was wise not to join the Euro. It will be wiser to Brexit.
That’s not strictly true Rud. Monetary union is essentially fiscal union, What I think you meant to say was that you cannot have monetary union without political union. The latter is completely unacceptable
Commenters are correct in referring to the UK rather than England as in the original post. This is a common mistake by Americans, but it is none the less annoying for that, particularly among the Welsh (for example) who beat Slovakia 2-1 in their opening match in the European championships, their first major international tournament win since the 1958 World Cup.
I’m going to be celebrating Independence Day in England, where I have spent much of my life. I normally say exactly what I intended to say.
Hi Tony, If you happen to be in the English Midlands I would love to take you out for a beer.
Richard,
Despite (actually because of) not knowing that Tony Heller lived part of his life in England, writes about it regularly on his blog and understands the distinctions between English, British and UK just fine, you touched on an interesting subject of what people know and think about each other.
One of the more entertaining treatments of these mutual relationships was written by an American and further enriched by his broad international readership:
http://dailycandor.com/what-europeans-think-of-each-other
http://dailycandor.com/follow-up-what-europeans-think-of-each-other
http://dailycandor.com/what-americans-think-of-europeans
What Europeans think of Americans has not been made into a separate post by the author but it has been addressed tangentially and in readers’ comments. It is equally humorous. I can testify to his repeated experience of being told by various Europeans:
“Yes, but you are not a real American.”
Many American friends of mine who spent part of their lives abroad—as children of American servicemen, diplomats and businessmen, mixed parentage families, as well as first generation Americans—have told me the same.
Even funnier, several Americans of at least some discernible non-Caucasian origin—despite having deep U.S. roots and ancestry of many generations—have reported to me basically the same conversation they had with various Europeans, including self-confident members of the sophisticated elites:
“Where are you from?”
“I am an American.”
“I know, but really, where are you from originally?”
The absolutely funniest one of these was recounted to me years ago by a mixed ancestry Oklahoman with some easily identifiable non-Caucasian genes. I remember us chuckling about it for quite a while. Several of his ancestors were Cherokees and Creeks. Needles to say, he developed a firm opinion of the “sophistication” of these European questioners.
———-
P.S. It may save you from some invalid typecasting to know that several American readers of Tony’s blog have also lived abroad part of their lives, speak multiple languages and have experience with foreign peoples and cultures.
P.P.S. I can basically guarantee to you that most of my well-educated German, Austrian and Swiss friends and acquaintances—despite having native words for such—won’t really be able to tell you who the “Walisisch” (or “Kymrisch) “are and will cheerfully call them “Engländer”. And to the French, most everyone living on “îles Britanniques” is “anglo-saxonne”, anyway. Either way, they want them all to stay put on their side of the English Channel and where the devil they spread from there or they’ll talk of “invasion anglo-saxonne en Europe”.
P.P.P.S. It could also be very entertaining to hear Welsh football fans tell us the difference between Slovakia, Slovenia, Slavonia, Slavia, and maybe even Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. I think we may learn among other things it’s just different names for a country in Russia where all Polish plumbers come from.
Richard,
Despite (actually because of) not knowing that Tony Heller lived part of his life in England, writes about it regularly on his blog and understands the distinctions between English, British and UK just fine, you touched on an interesting subject of what people know and think about each other.
One of the more entertaining treatments of these mutual relationships was written by an American and further enriched by his broad international readership:
http://dailycandor.com/what-europeans-think-of-each-other
http://dailycandor.com/follow-up-what-europeans-think-of-each-other
http://dailycandor.com/what-americans-think-of-europeans
What Europeans think of Americans has not been made into a separate post by the author but it has been addressed tangentially and in readers’ comments. It is equally humorous. I can testify to his repeated experience of being told by various Europeans:
“Yes, but you are not a real American.”
Many American friends of mine who spent part of their lives abroad—as children of American servicemen, diplomats and businessmen, mixed parentage families, as well as first generation Americans—have told me the same.
Even funnier, several Americans of at least some discernible non-Caucasian origin—despite having deep U.S. roots and ancestry of many generations—have reported to me basically the same conversation they had with various Europeans, including self-confident members of the sophisticated elites:
“Where are you from?”
“I am an American.”
“I know, but really, where are you from originally?”
The absolutely funniest one of these was recounted to me years ago by a mixed ancestry Oklahoman with some easily identifiable non-Caucasian genes. I remember us chuckling about it for quite a while. Several of his ancestors were Cherokees and Creeks. Needles to say, he developed a firm opinion of the “sophistication” of these European questioners.
———-
P.S. It may save you from some invalid typecasting to know that several American readers of Tony’s blog have also lived abroad part of their lives, speak multiple languages and have experience with foreign peoples and cultures.
P.P.S. I can basically guarantee to you that most of my well-educated German, Austrian and Swiss friends and acquaintances—despite having native words for such—won’t really be able to tell you who the “Walisisch” (or “Kymrisch) “are and will cheerfully call them “Engländer”. And to the French, most everyone living on “îles Britanniques” is “anglo-saxonne”, anyway. Either way, they want them all to stay put on their side of the English Channel and where the devil they spread from there or they’ll talk of “invasion anglo-saxonne en Europe”.
P.P.P.S. It could also be very entertaining to hear Welsh football fans tell us the difference between Slovakia, Slovenia, Slavonia, Slavia, and maybe even Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. I think we may learn among other things it’s just different names for a country in Russia where all Polish plumbers come from.
———-
[reposted with fewer hyperlinks so Tony can enjoy his English beers without being bothered about releasing the earlier version caught in the moderation queue]
As for Trump, he wants to bring the troops home, and he wants to build a wall between the USA and Mexico, and to ask Mexico to pay for it. Good luck with that. Why doesn’t he get all those (now unemployed) soldiers to build the wall ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp0cNRbGzDc
There is a small problem with that scheme. It would be unconstitutional.
I’m surprised so many people don’t understand that Mexico can be made to pay the same way the average Joe is made to pay… through taxes.
There is a ton of financial transactions between the US and Mexico. There is $25.70 billion just in people working in the USA sending money back home to Mexico each year.
Italy, Spain and Greece are economic basket cases. The degree of dissatisfaction with the EU is spreading. Once again, the UK is called in to save continental Europe. As well as Obama, every time Cameron opens his mouth more move to Leave. I’m leafleting in the village we live in. Last push.
Why is there no option checkbox to get followup messages? The other wordpress site had this option. It informs you if there is a followup comment. But now it doesn’t.
a friend mentioned today that Brexit could signal the British returning to a path of greatness
I hope so
Good luck to my friends across the pond
we resisted the b@stards together once before
Here’s to the good fight
“55 percent of UK voters intend to vote for britain to leave the EU” ?
YES Britain’s, LEAVE THE EU !
The “EU” is more like “SU” (Whether Satan’s Union or Satan’s University, does it really matter?) Satan’s Union and sticking with it (Or by it!) is hazardous to your Souls !!
Hear Me now and listen to Me latter, Get the Funk Out !!!
ThinkOn
Casting a vote is one thing. Counting them is another. Good luck Brexiters, you’ll need it.
Normally when they promise heaven what you get is a bureaucratic hell.
Great comments wishing for Brexit to happen. But the reason Europe failed is, in my opinion, more to do with the unelected, Chinese-style, politburo type of government at the top of the EU, totally divorced from the people. It does not help that the Commissioners (Commissars) are paid huge, largely tax-free amounts, along with huge pensions, in the true socialist tradition.
Looking forward to the first British Independance Day.
I never really quite “got” all the hoo-ha about US independence Day. Come June 24th when the result is known. and if the result is for Leave, then yes, I will begin to understand what it really means. Freedom.
Just after 5 in the morning in the UK and it looks like Tony will have a reason to celebrate.
Live | EU referendum results live: Brexit wins as Britain votes to leave European Union