First Boehner and now Cameron; bloodletting on the right continues maybe (hopefully) bloodletting on steroids if Trump wins in November. It was the honorable choice of action but I still hope it stings a lot for him; best lessons are painful.
@_HankRearden @HillaryClinton Cameron resigns. One third of the trio is out pic.twitter.com/x49D11N0Wq
— Christine Marat (@kyramarat1) June 24, 2016
Cameron took an unnecessary gamble and lost. Of course he believed he would win, otherwise he would not have held the referendum, but that wasn't the issue. The pro-EU wing and majority of the parliamentary Conservative Party warned against a referendum, not only because they have contempt for what their fellow citizens (as an aside, we are, outrageously, in fact "subjects" of Her "Majesty") think or want but because they asked the simple question, what if you lose? The pro-EU Tories and others understood what that would entail and what that would unleash, especially in today's UK: constitutional mayhem, party political chaos, the near certainty of the breakup of the UK and possible political violence. And all for what? For Cameron to stop the insignificant irritants on the anti-EU right and to end Boris Johnson's unquenchable desire to topple Cameron. On the other side, the rightwing neoliberals unleashed all this chaos and forced from power a leader and a PM who brought them out of the political wilderness so as to renegotiate a settlement with the EU that is no different to the one we have, and arguably worse!
ReplyDeleteThat's why you don't give in to headbangers. Why? Because they're headbangers! Let them sound off. Who cares? You're the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom! You simply rise above all this nonsense. Like the White House, Downing Street is meant to be reserved for serious statesmen, for thoughtful politicians who are custodians of a country with a long and fractured political history. You don't gamble with that. He did, and now history will not judge him kindly. Nor will it judge kindly all those who allowed the country to fall into such a state of disrepair that the country will, sooner or later, dissolve into at least two constituent parts, while elsewhere political violence is fomented.
Matt, I am very genuinely concerned. I have a real sense of foreboding. As far as I'm concerned, I do think that the rise of the nation state is the worst thing to have ever happened: think of all the war, ethnic cleansing and totalitarianism that goes with creating such a monster. That seems to me an acceptance of the obvious historical reality, and it's so unpleasant that you wonder why anybody celebrates the rise of the nation state. Note the absolutely crucial distinction between a nation and a nation state.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the damn things exist and will continue to exist. There is no going back, so make the best of it and let "nation shall speak peace unto nation". Treat your country and all its citizens with the decency, respect, love and care you would your family, but never forget its bloody and sometimes glorious history. A quiet, honourable patriotism is at best required: the kind of patriotism my own grandfathers showed during wartime and after; no incessant and stupid racket about how superior we are.
But hark! Who goes there? Enter the era of the neoliberals, a band of savage barbarians utterly devoted to money and more money. Entire, countries are there to be eaten alive, from Greece to Mexico, from Spain to the "new" South Africa, from the once mighty UK to the now mighty colossus USA. The lunatics took over the economic asylum, then they broke out into the real world and are now taking that over too. The sooner the LSE, MIT, Chicago lunatics are put back into padded rooms the better for all of us. If there is an "axis of evil", then the LSE-MIT-Chicago axis fits the bill perfectly. Their record of destruction, whether in terms of lives or whole economies and their social infrastructures, is breathtaking.
And yet the cry is more neoliberalism. Well, we have a fight on our hands here in the UK. You guys in the US have an arguably harder fight on your hands. Good luck, we're both going to need it!!!
As for their incompetence, the problem with the neoliberals is that they're all too competent! They have a plan and they carry it out to fruition. The world descends into chaos but the plutocratic elites tower above all, richer, stronger and more ravenous. Meanwhile the neoliberals argue that the plutocratic elites are "entrepreneurs" and are receiving their fair share of the economic distribution. These people need serious psychiatric help.
I can imagine the Tea Party folk one day living in tents in the Texan desert saying that it was socialism and the trade unions that did this. Some people can't get out of their mind set. It's depressing. We could have a lovely social democray but we have this instead. A hot tempered society with too many people poor.
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