March 8, 2016
IT ACTUALLY SEEMS QUITE SIMPLE...:
The problem of sovereignty in the EU referendum (GERRY HASSAN 7 March 2016, Open Democracy)
After years of second guesses and a rising tide of Europhobia and scare stories, finally the UK faces the certainty of a vote on June 23rd on whether or not it remains a member of the European Union. This will be a debate about so much - about how people see Britain and its future, the English question, and the distinctiveness and autonomy of Scotland - all illustrating the absence of any uniform national British politics.The referendum will be dominated by concerns about the economy, immigration, security, and the UK's role and influence in the world. It will also be about competing understandings of 'sovereignty' - with several different Tory perspectives, along with Labour, Lib Dems, UKIP, Scottish Nationalist and Green views. There will be similarities in language and tone to the indyref. Some of the same clichés will be invoked to breaking point, 'Project Fear' has been dusted down, and the trading and counter-trading of alleged pseudo-facts begun.Most people most of the time do not go round thinking of how 'sovereignty' impacts on themselves and their family. Instead, it is an abstract, something remote and ill-defined, and a concept open to many different interpretations - whose practical application is unclear.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 8, 2016 3:13 PM