The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Freedom makes progress in Europe
So, it looks as if the right-wing (i.e. anti-European Union) candidate in the Austrian presidential elections lost (narrowly), but Italian voters have rejected an attempt to align that country more closely with EU-preferred political structures. This may lead to economic crisis, and even Italy's withdrawal from the euro.
I can't say I'm too worried at the prospect. Most of those forecasting doom and gloom if more conservative, anti-globalist, pro-nationalist candidates win more elections in more countries, are coming from a world view that regards increasing unity - leading to a 'one world' government - as desirable. I'm on the other side of the fence. I believe that individual rights, freedoms and liberties are antithetic to collectivism. I'm all in favor of political movements that see the individual as more important than the state; who value and encourage and support entrepreneurism and individual effort, rather than socialism and group-think.
Austria didn't quite get there today, but the country came a lot closer than it ever has before. I suspect, if that opinion change continues, it won't be long before its government changes hands. Italy is now set fair for a regime change, since Prime Minister Renzi has promised to resign if he loses the referendum. What will replace him is unclear . . . but I doubt very much whether it will be any worse.
Now we look to the ongoing saga of Brexit, where globalists and collectivists are doing everything they can to sabotage the will of the British people, as expressed in a referendum to withdraw from the EU. France is likely to see a significant swing to more conservative, right-wing, nationalist candidates in the coming year. As for Germany . . . collectivist Merkel has allowed over a million so-called 'refugees' to invade her country. The consequences for Germans have been almost uniformly unpleasant - some of them have been horrific. Will the German electorate punish her and her party? That remains to be seen . . . but one may hope.
President Trump may soon have more like-minded leaders in Europe to work with than he'd expected.
Peter
There is a German couple that spends winters here in AZ and summers back home. Just returned in Oct and when I spoke to them they said they sold out and are here permanently now. Why? They said its just not safe to walk the streets anymore. Yes thats a large generality, but the point is they feel thier home country has changed for the worse so significantly they were willing to vote with thier feet. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteI have lived and worked overseas in various countries for over 25 years, an enthusiastic direct participant in the global economy. I have never seen any evidence whatsoever that forced political unions (or empires) and secret hugely complex insider trade agreements are necessary elements of mutually beneficial trade among nations. Since they're not necessary, I say get rid of them. I'm with Peter all the way on this one. People have the right to have a voice in their own futures.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder if the invaders in Germany have ever cracked open a history book. When pushed so far the German people have taken retribution against enemies real or imagined that are breathtaking in their ruthlessly efficient violence. I've been there and seen it-FELT it. You can indeed feel it. They killed 6 million Jews while fighting a desperate hopeless 2 front world war against essentially the rest of the planet. They weren't even trying particularly hard and committed one of the more shocking genocides in modern history. You don't stroll into their house and start pushing them around and being disagreeable let alone rape and pillage. You'd have to be out of your damned mind. Or Russian. Lord knows they wrote the book on zfg ruthlessness.
ReplyDeleteThe French are much and wrongly maligned as cowards but their history is drenched in blood, their own and others. Europeans in general have engaged in some of the most horrific slaughter mankind has ever known even when fighting amongst each other led by leaders who were all cousins. The current squatters and their quisling globalist enablers had better hope and pray the nationalists take Europe. They'll at least abide by civilized norms for the most part when setting things back to right. Should the nationalists fail, what follows them will have no such constraints and you won't want to see what that looks like. It looks like history, the really ugly parts and it'll be in high definition thermonuclear technicolor.
Much as I regret the death of this young girl, I have to have a certain, very unchristian thought that, as her father is one of the officials condoning and encouraging the invasion and cultural destruction of the continent, he at least is suffering from what he inflicted on the rest of his countrymen 9and women):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3998478/Teenage-Afghan-immigrant-arrested-Germany-murder-medical-student.html
And it IS being encouraged and paid for by the various elites (or Oligarchs):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-04/something-strange-taking-place-mediterranean
Interesting times ahead.
Phil B
Ok everybody, you need to understand a few things about the referendum.
ReplyDelete1) It really was about Constitutional reform. Changing the very stupid position that the Regions of Italy and the Senate (Upper House of Parliament) could completely block legislation. Since the Senate changes very slowly (not all elected at every national election etc) it never mirrored the will of the people. So a very hard nationalist regions in Northern Italy could block change or legislation needed by the Country, just one state say Idaho could block the wishes of all the other inhabitants of the 49 states from enacting legislative change. It was chaotic and has lead to 60 odd governments in 70 odd years in Italy.
2) The Parliament and Renzi's office then added lots of other bits a pieces to the changes, such as certain immunity to prosecution of politicians etc to turn needed change in to an excuse to kill quite a few Fraud Cases involving those same politicians. Surprise surprise.
3) Renzi then made it a popularity contest and a comment on his reforms by saying if he lost he would resign. There was no need for that at all. But as a man who has had to make significant changes to Italian Banking otherwise they would have gone bust he is not very popular.
So Renzi looses and resigns. In Italy the President (an honorary title) can appoint a "Technical" government that is not elected. As was the appointment of Prodi back in 2008 at the height of the Financial Crisis. At the moment Italy doesn't even have a statute on its books on how the next election will be called or organised.So it will be some time before they even have any change.
Ultimately the only problem the EU has, is if the 5 Star Movement is elected as the largest party. Remembering because of Mussolini that no party can really win a majority in Italy. If he asks the Northern League (very right wing party, very anti EU) to form a Government. But since 5 Star is very left wing in its outlook that is unlikely. More likely is a centralist party is asked to join the party to form a Government. At which point 5 Star will call a referendum on membership of the Euro (note not of the EU) which they will loose because the North with very strong ties to Germany, Switzerland and France will not want to have the problems that come with using the very flaky Lira.
So by the end of it, after a lot of upheaval we will be back to square one. That's Italian politics for you.
@anonymous, I'll point out that the US senate doesn't elect everybody every election and that doesn't mean it doesn't follow the will of the people, but it does mean (as intended) that it provides a buffer against the whims of the people.
ReplyDeleteThe US attempted the 'everybody must agree' approach with the original articles of Confederation and ran into the very problem you describe preventing anything from being done. That is why the Constitution never requires unanimous agreement, only 2/3 (and even that, only in some cases)
But Europe would never stoop to learning from the US :-)
What was the proposed change to weaken this?
I wouldn't bet on referendums failing, you the amount of 'ties' that exist may or may not be ties in the hearts of the people, they may be ties in the hearts of the business folks, far from the same thing.
I notice that it only took the Austrians 3 tries to get the electoral result that Belgium wanted.
ReplyDeleteHi folks,
ReplyDeletethe voice from Germany again. First let me thank you for a very good laugh. Reading about a german couple that has chosen the USA to live there because they are feeling unsafe in Germany.... you can't beat that. It is more than just funny, it is the best joke I have heard for a long time.
Whatever your "Echo Chamber" makes you believe: Germany is still a place where people can go out without fearing for their life. Even in the largest cities. Even in the inner cities and the not-so-prosperous quarters. Yes, we can, even unarmed. Of course we have also people here who are suffering from paranoia (like Peter, who simply tries to avoid any crowded places in rural Tennesse because, you know, terrorists are lurking everywhere!).
Muggings? Very, very rare.
Armed house invasions? Even rarer. (ok, simple Burglary is increasing, I'll give you that)
Car-Jacking? Never heard of.
Drive-by shootings? Never ever heard of.
And in your cities? Do you go out for a walk after dark, unarmed? Really?
When I was visiting a convention in New Orleans back in '99 a colleague suffered a heart attack. He was brought to a downtown hospital into ICU. At 9:00 P.M. my wife and me walked over from the convention center to the hospital to visit him. Everybody there looked at us disbelieving that we could be so stupid to do this. They said this might have been the most dangerous ten minutes we ever experienced. Well, in Germany you can do this, anytime, everywhere.
So please, do NOT mix up the rantings of some xenophobic hatemongers with reality. There are a lot of people who hate migrants and they do not only make a lot of noise, but they also spread a lot of false stories about crimes that never happened.
On the other hand we have a large number of people who care about the fugitives. They help, they donate, they collect clothes etc. There are two people alone in my circle of acquaintances who give German lessons to the refugees. But they don't boost about it, you don't hear from them. They simply help to get the job done. It is a long way to go, and integration will cost us a lot of effort. But it pays in the long run. 1,4 children per woman is the actual German fertility rate. Do the math.
We saw the newest analysis about the Syrian refugees: same rate of crime than the average German, and an even higher level of education than we assumed before.
So there IS a difference between people from Syria and e.g. North African refugees (the latter being most angry young men, NOT accepted for Asylum, but also not allowed to work - high crime rate, see Cologne. Some of their countries won't take these guys back from us when we try to deport them. Big Problem. You simply can't drop them from a plane at high altitude... :-))
However, please do not believe every voice on the internet because it just fits so conveniently into your world view. It was the echo chamber that made your liberals/democrats/academics/media people believe that Hillary would become president (I knew better, because I was listening to you folks in the blogs). And I had a lot of laughs about their butt-hurt crying when Trump won. YOU only had to look out of your windows to know who would become the next president.
If I look out of MY WINDOW, I see a peaceful country....
Best regards
Hansjoerg
Hansjoerg:
ReplyDeleteYou do understand that the low birthrate is directly attributable to the high tax rates of countries that have embraced some form of socialism? This is what drives the stupid idea of importing a replacement population. What? You don't think you are doing that in Germany, and the rest of Europe? That is EXACTLY what you are doing. When the average person there finally realizes this situation, heads will roll.
We are going to try to fix our own problem here in the US. Hopefully, without the widespread violence that the Europeans traditionally employ for invasions.
"May you live in interesting times"
Will,
ReplyDeleteLow fertility rates as an outcome of high taxes? If it were that simple, I would happily agree with you, because I also dislike any form of big(&expensive)government. But - as most other things - there is not just one simple reason. Just look closer: people in France and Germany have almost the same (high) amounts of taxes and social charges to pay. Both states you may call "socialist" from your point of view, which I understand. But:
German woman: 1,4 kids
French woman: 2,1 kids
I could explain this difference. But obviously you have made up your mind, so I won't bother you with facts...
:-)
Anyway, I would prefer a certain percentage of motivated and "hungry" Syrian immigrants over the gloomy alternative: 1,4 kids plus the imminent retirement of our "Baby-Boomers" will severely cripple our economy.
Hansjörg
Hansjorg -
ReplyDeleteDon't try to fool us. Many of us have lived in Germany, and know better. German neighborhoods are safe, but the immigrant neighborhoods are good places to get knifed, shot, or beaten to death. "No such thing as a Turk without a knife. No such thing as just one Turk." - I learned this in West Berlin, so you can tell how far back this goes.
Importing a replacement population to make welfare work is a really exotic method of mass suicide.
As for your comments about the US, we're just like you. Stay in the white neighborhoods, and you're generally all right.
Birthrates - the French birthrate is higher because they count all the immigrant women who have six or eight kids apiece, and they started with a higher percentage of foreign population.