Bye bye, Britain

[Franconicus]

Great Britain wants to make the people vote if they want to stay in the European Union or leave it and Britains politicians keep on demanding reforms of the Union so that Britain can stay.

This is my point of view.

Of course Britain is part of Europe (although they may not fell that way) with common values, history and economy. Britain is an economical power, which could and should be one of the leaders of the Union. However, Britain likes to play the internal opposition, claiming special conditions and blocking the development of the Union.

I think it would not be democratic to insist that Britain stays, if its people do not want to. The EU is not the USA, there will be no Civil War. However, it would be more undemocratic if Britain wanted to dictate the course of the Union.


The European Union is based on solidarity as a counter concept to national egoism and class struggle. Britain has a completely different view on economy, foreign policy and military. If Britain does not want to follow the European way, it may leave. And it should do it as soon as possible without this painful comedy.

I do not think that there is a way to keep Britain in the Union. Te differences came to a point where there does not seem to be a good compromise any longer. Especially the British spying of citizens of other European countries is absolotely proves that there is no way to keep Britain in the Union.

There is no bad thing in leaving the Union, GB would still be a friend with economical and military connections. But the Union would no longer hinder the Britain to go its way and the Union would finally be able to go on itself.

[Myth]

GB will save on its membership fee, and will be free to set its own laws of immigration. IMO the best course of action for the country.

[InsaneApache]

The European Union is based on solidarity

Ha ha ha! Oh my aching sides. You should do stand up mate.

Look, its really simple.

The British were lied to from the very beginning about the true nature of the 'Union'. We were told in no uncertain terms that it was only a trading bloc and on that basis we voted to join it. Fast forward forty years and it does not resemble anything like the British people voted for.

Put it this way, if we wanted to be ruled by a foreign power we'd have given up in June 1940, just after you lot did.

We don't take kindly to being fed falsehoods and misrepresentations.

Thank God for UKIP. At last a party that does what it says on the tin.

[Fragony]

We aren't very happy with the EU here either. Except for those who are happy with it.

[HoreTore]

Who will the British blame for their troubles once the EU no longer serves as the scapegoat?

Are the British mature enough to accept the reality that they have themselves to blame for their troubles?

[InsaneApache]

Nurse! He's out of bed again.

[Fragony]

The Brittish just doesn't like to be ruled by a foreign power. Neither do we, while polls can't be relied upon because the questions are suggestive, it wouldn't be that far of a strech to claim that the majority of the Dutch are sick of the EU. If we can find a buddy in the English that would be great. The German industry can't function without us so making a deal should be easy.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

That'd be fun. A couple dozen million new voters. To be honest, we should integrate Mexico first though. Get in line Limeys.

Why would the Mexican government want that? Their economy is growing better than ours and we take care of many of their poorest through remittances that never have to be shouldered by the Mexican taxpayer. Why would they muck with that? On the other hand, we'd at least have a national language at last.

[rvg]

...leaving the EU would turn Britain into a US proxy state with almost zero leverage against us.

Care to elaborate?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

GC will speak his own piece, but I think he is referring to the impact of so many economic and social ties, the special relationship, and the coordination of our militaries. The UK would not be quite the satrapy GC alludes to (somewhat in fun) but it is easy to see the UK taking on a lot of a "sidekick" role in the eyes of too many -- on both sides of the pond.

[rvg]

I consider the special relationship to be very much a two-way street. It's not nearly as lopsided as some try to portray it.

[rvg]

The recent Syria crisis for example: the way the vote went on the British House of Commons had a huge impact on our ultimate decision not to get involved.

[Fisherking]

Elaborate? I often find myself wondering what exactly they bring to the table, outside of the war on terror (In which they admittedly play a large role, but still niggling in comparison to what the US does). A british perspective on this would be interesting too: just what do Britons think they have to offer?

The Brits have always been better at spying for one thing. Not nearly so many embarrassments in that field. Then over the years there have been little things like Ultra, chobham armor, radar, sonar, just to name a few.

So it is not exactly a one way street, even if we think we came up with all that stuff.

[Beskar]

Elaborate? I often find myself wondering what exactly they bring to the table, outside of the war on terror (In which they admittedly play a large role, but still niggling in comparison to what the US does). A british perspective on this would be interesting too: just what do Britons think they have to offer?

Actually, sorry to say, the treaty is awfully biased in favour of America. As such, an American can deport anyone within the UK to the USA without much of a hearing (lipservice) whilst in contrast, if an American has to be put through the American legal-system and tried there before they can be deported to the United Kingdom. There are many cases to illustrate this, such as the Gary McKinnon one about an autistic individually who illegally accessed the Pentagon computer systems to find traces of UFOs/Aliens, this is when the lopsided-ness of the treaty starts to become exposed. He signed a statement saying he broke UK law and he is more than happy to be sentenced and jailed within the UK, it took a lot of political wrangling at the home office and a lot of ruffled American feathers due to the public outcry of the incident.