by Dave
My goodness, we hear truth at last. EU is going the way of the Soviet Union. Mr Juncker, Tear Down That Wall!!
Amusingly, the EU parliament was actually patterned after the old Soviet Duma. The Duma could only say “yes” or “no” to legislation put forward by the central committee. (And they always voted YES, if they knew what was good for them.) Similarly, the EU parliament can only say “yes” or “no” to the legislation put forward by the unelected European Commission. Voting requirements aren’t as draconian at the EU, but structurally, if you can’t initiate or repeal legislation, you’re a toothless, rubberstamp-only body. All you can do is act like a 2-year-old. NO! NO! NO! That’s it.
And the President of the EU? Surely he is elected, right?
Here’s an article I dug up from the Guardian which describes how the EU President, Mr Juncker, got into office.
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/27/eu-democratic-bandwagon-juncker-president-wanted
Did “the people” vote for Juncker? My goodness no. We can’t have that. It was the usual smoke-filled room that would have done the old Tammany Hall bosses proud. No “people” were involved in Mr Juncker’s election.
If the EU goes the way of the Soviet Union, there is a reason for it: badly designed systems eventually end up on the ash heap of history. The EU was utterly undemocratic from the get-go, and it just never got any better. Anyone remember the EU-sponsored coup taking out Burlusconi in Italy? Or the Troika, punishing Greece for decades because they had the effrontery to have endangered the German and French banks?
I’m not saying the US is much better. Corporations own and operate the Congress as a branch office. But at least we can elect our President. More or less anyway.
But yeah. EU is going the way of the Soviet Union, and for much the same reason. A badly designed system eventually dies, crushed by the weight of its design flaws.
Maybe, next time around, they’ll come up with a better design. One that involves actual democracy, perhaps.