Noteveryone is happy with UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision togive the British people an opportunity to leave the European Union (EU).If he is re-elected, Cameron has promised to hold an in-or-out votebefore the end of 2017.
Yet with the EU’s stabilityalready in question, foreign leaders have quickly moved to voice theiropposition. Most notably, the Obama administration has said the UK’s continuing membership in the EU is “in the American interest.”
Despite these objections, Britain is no longer convinced their best interests are being served by remaining in the union. Speaking exclusively to Breitbart News, Andrew Rosindell M.P. (Member of Parliament) noted every year membership in the EU costs the UK $250 billion, or 6,000 pounds per UK family.
Of even greater concern is UK’s loss of sovereignty, with 75% of their regulations coming from unelected bureaucrats at the EU. British citizens are especially enraged by legislation such as the European Arrest Warrant–which ended their ancient right to habeas corpus.
Though personally opposed to a British departure, David Cameron is facing an electorate that is becoming increasingly skeptical of the EU. A recent survey by Populus for The Times found 82% of UK citizens want a referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU.
Despite years of parliamentary opposition, a national movement has emerged; to date, ninety members of parliament have signed “The People’s Pledge: Campaign for an EU Referendum.”
Prime Minister Cameron’s views are now at odds with his own party’s. In 2010, much like the Tea Party wave that swept America, Eurosceptic candidates enjoyed massive success at the ballot box. Since then, Cameron’s Conservative party has faced an internal civil war between its pro-EU fraction and their Eurosceptic counterparts. Before his recent decision to allow a referendum, in a vote on a three line whip (where strictest party discipline is required), 81 Members of Parliament voted against the prime minister.
Younger voters who favor lower taxes and freer trade are pulling the Conservative party further to the right. Andrew Rosindell M.P. believes, “Members of the Conservative Future (the youth wing of the Conservative Party) are overwhelming Eurosceptic and regularly advocate for reform of the EU.” They are quick to note three of the most prosperous nations per capita in Europe are Switzerland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. What is common to all three? Not one of them belongs to the European Union.
Further complicating matters is the emergence of the UK Independence Party and their promise to completely withdraw Britain from the EU. Momentum seems to be on their side, with the latest popular opinion poll showing them in third place–easily beating the Conservative party’s coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats. In the upcoming election, most experts believe the party will gain a majority of the UK’s representatives to the EU.
Conservative politicians are carefully watching the Independence Party’s popularity soar in unison with the public’s opposition to the EU. Many fear people will split their votes between the Independence and Conservative parties, allowing Labour to gain control of Parliament. Losing the next election is now a greater concern for the party than the repercussions of disagreeing with Cameron. Boris Johnson, mayor of London and prominent rival of Cameron’s, recently said, “I don’t’ think that leaving the EU is the end of the world.”
Still, the Independence Party isn’t convinced of their counterpart’s change of heart. To them, leaving the EU isn’t a means to electoral power, but rather the only hope of preserving the UK’s freedom and sovereignty. Lord Christopher Monckton, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher and immediate past deputy party leader, is especially concerned by Europe’s willingness to cede control to unelected supranational and increasingly global bodies.
In an exclusive interview for Breitbart News, Monckton said, “The EU is not subject to any jurisdiction at all. They are a law unto themselves. They are also beyond the reach of any electorate and those who are not subject to any law will tend to act lawlessly.”
It doesn’t matter if everyone agrees with Monckton or not, frustration with the EU has reached the point where politicians can no longer act oblivious.
Andrew Rosindell’s M.P. reflections perfectly capture the electorate’s mood, “Our ancestors did not fight for to uphold the Union Flag and to defend our freedom and democracy, only for it to be slowly ebbed away by politicians and miscellaneous bureaucrats. I am constantly asked by my constituents on the streets and doorsteps of Romford why we have had no referendum on Britain’s relationship on the EU since 1975? I wonder why myself.”
Rather than supporting British sovereignty, however, the Obama administration has issued a soft threat–warning a departure from the EU would weaken London’s global standing and relationship with Washington.
Speaking for the administration, Philip Gordon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs stated, “We welcome an outward-looking European Union with Britain in it. We benefit when the EU is unified, speaking with a single voice.”
In response, Lord Monckton reasoned, “The main reason why Britain wants to leave the EU is precisely the centralization of its ‘speaking voice’ in the hands of unelected bureaucrats. The Obama administration’s true reason for wanting to keep the UK imprisoned in the EU is that the EU is a totalitarian Socialist project that Obama favors.” Monckton claims, “The EU is indeed anti-American, and was largely founded as a xenophobic attempt to rival the size and strength of the U.S.”
Is the EU actually anti-American? Many would argue the contrary, but what can’t be denied is the US’s recent trend of European style policies. The Obama administration has taken control of a substantial portion of the nation’s automotive industry, financial institutions, and health-care system. Most European nations took these same steps decades ago.
The Obama administration has also heavily pushed for a ratification of the UN Conventions on the Right of Persons with Disabilities and the Law of the Sea. Both treaties would give international bureaucrats veto authority over US law. Critics believe, if passed, these measures would give the UN control over parental decision making for disabled children and force the US to comply with international carbon emission caps. Could US citizens one day lose their right to habeas corpus as their British counterparts already have?
Not surprisingly, the Obama administration’s favoritism of European style “democracy” is producing many of the same results. Both continents are experiencing high unemployment and civil unrest, while the US dollar, like the euro, continues to lose value, resulting in rapid inflation.
When Greece’s financial crisis began in 2009, their national debt to GDP ratio was 113.4%. In 2012, the US’s ratio surpassed 100% and continues to climb upwards. If this trend isn’t reversed quickly, the US cannot hope to avoid the same consequences.
Financially, the US cannot afford to follow the European Union’s example; however, Lord Monckton feels there is more at stake than a monetary crisis. “The globalization of political power will be fatal to democracy. Where it is accompanied by the globalization of groupthink, the once-cheerful international market-place for competing ideas and ideologies will come to be replaced by a single party line (excitingly rebranded “consensus”) that is intended to empower and enrich the global classe politique at the expense of the rest of us,” he claims.
America and the United Kingdom are facing many of the same issues. There is only one difference. The EU has already experienced “solutions” similar to President Obama’s. Before the President follows the EU’s policies any further, he should first ask Britain why they want out.
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