The article for Unit 3 is a little difficult to read coming off the copier. Good news, I was able to find a link to the article online, however in order to get this you have to gain FREE access to your local library. Just click on the link below, scroll down, and follow the steps. It should not be a problem, any issues please let me know.
Good Luck
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-14529400/constitutional-frameworks-and-democratic.html
4 comments:
Shall I post our EU review here? Regardless, I'm going to.
Great Britain Should Leave the European Union.
This article by Vernon Coleman, describes the EU as being a sinister concept run only by greed and the will to rule all. It keeps countries from thriving, by any sense of the world, while maintaining a firm chokehold on anyone who believes in Democracy. Once powerful countries, like England, are losing their statuses as countries he says. They snag voting rights’ of citizens by forming regional assemblies. They steal any sense of individualism by converting methods of measurement. Soon, there won’t even be an England! The “English Channel” won’t be a channel, but waters ruled solely by the European Union. The simply hates free England, and wants to turn the UK into twelve regions! They also want to turn every Englishman and woman into zombies in order to take out the African Union…..
These, are the views of Vernon Coleman. But Come on Mr. Coleman, the EU has proven to be relatively harmless due to their illegitimacy, and poses no real threat to the UK, because the truth is, they need them. The EU is a conjunction of nations attempting to achieve a common goal, (even though they have separate means of reaching that goal) not Sauron attempting to take over Middle-Earth…
I completely agree with Liam in that Vernon Coleman's article is so negative and exaggerates to the point of ridiculousness. Especially in his first paragraph where he says "It's no exaggeration to say that it's genocide without blood". This is clearly an exaggeration and genocide by definition is massacring people, there is no way the European Union infringes on the English identity so much especially with its limited authority. Coleman also tries to throw off a major problem within Britain as the fault of the European Union; it being a multinational country. It is not the fault of the European Union that English people do not have a common identity it is how it was formed (the addition of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Despite his overly negative outlook he brings up an interesting point in the division of Britain into districts because I had no idea that that was in place and it seems undemocratic that they're not voted upon. His opinion is lost in his accusations of the EU though and he views it as this "secretive" organization bent on taking over the world. I don't think it is secretive but rather confused on the role it should play and its expansion.
Richard Laming's article on why Great Britain should remain a part of the European Union (don't know if we're doing this one too but I'll cover all the bases) also exaggerates his points and ignores the problems with the EU. He also raises some interesting points about its benefits though. Globalization is occurring and countries are becoming increasingly interdependent with common problems. Some problems like environmental problems span across countries and can only be solved by working together and together the countries can gain more influence. The article proposes a good solution to the question we asked in class on friday of why an organization is needed to accomplish this? Why can't countries just cooperate? The European Union has the force of law and governing rules which force politicians to keep their word. But is having so many politicians agree possible or just naive?
I think the two opinions of these political scientists reflect the struggle the European Union itself faces of what role it wants to play. The first article reflects it as a UN type organization (although it exaggerates it to UN on steroids that is replacing governments not uniting them) with extreme power and demands for the country involved. The second article reflects it as a smaller organization with rules and procedures to find solutions to problems without so much authority. What should the EU be and does its decision affect Britain's participation?
I agree, the first article was pretty insane and left me with little idea about why Great Britain should leave the EU. Vernon Coleman's comments about how England doesn't exist as a country any more because it didn't have a soccer team that represented a nation state in the world cup, plus a few more crazy claims that were ridiculous. He talks about England being split up into 12 regions, how voters in these regions werent being listened to whatsoever, and how "you cant be English" anymore. The English channel isn't going to be the english channel anymore, its going to be a maritime space controlled by the EU. You can't fly the english flag, you can't sell things in pounds, and worst of all, national cricket matches aren't being shown on terrestrial television! All of these ideas seemed very extreme and a little bit irrelevant to the actual issue, and i found it really hard to make a case for Great Britain to leave the EU based upon these. I didn't think it was well written, and i couldn't find any solid evidence saying that the EU has done any harm to the countries involved. The other view written by Richard Laming arguing that Great Britain should stay in the EU was much easier to comprehend, and presented the evidence in a much more factual and believable manner. I clearly saw all of the positive effects the EU has had and all of the good intentions they continue to have. This essay laid out how that globalization is key, and most prominent countries are very interdependent. One of the EUs main goals was to provide a common currency, and common rules in order to make trade easier for those countries. Laming also provides evidence that the economy has significantly improved for countries in the EU, and almost 900.000 new jobs have been created. He also talks about how the governing body is much more efficeint. For those reasons, i would have to support his opinion that Britain should remain part of the EU.
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