Can't Happen Here?

Source: IHT.com

I must agree with The Watchdog here, this is pretty much how I see a future North American Union going down. Modern "democratic" governments appear to make decisions and then shoehorn the alleged "will of the people" into the decisions they've already made, the EU being a perfect example....

LONDON: Europe does not need a constitution, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said Monday, but should opt for a less ambitious new treaty that would not require a referendum.

After talks with the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, Blair said the two countries’ positions on how to break the logjam over the European constitution were very close.

“What the Dutch and the British are saying is that it is important we go back to the idea of a conventional treaty, where the idea is to make Europe work more effectively, because we now have 27 countries rather than 15,” Blair said during a news conference with Balkenende, “rather than a treaty with the characteristics of a constitution.”

In 2005, French and Dutch voters rejected a European constitution in referendums, halting reform of the European Union’s decision-making procedures and institutions.

And when it appears clear that a majority of "the people" disagree with the direction the government, in all its mighty goodness and wisdom has decided, what do they do?

Blair suspended plans for a British referendum on the EU constitution after the French and Dutch votes. Given widespread Euro-skepticism in Britain, the government fears it could lose such a vote.

With "democracy" like this who needs tyrants?

I have some more thoughts on this I will write up tomorrow, it's a little late right now and I need some sleep. But the basic gist is simply this: If there are things that you, as a citizen, are not allowed to vote on, can Britain or America for that matter still be considered a democracy?

Illegal immigration is a perfect illustration of what I'm talking about, but hardly the only one. Welfare is another, one of the primary reasons our government is desperate to keep the borders open is to maintain the current welfare system.

To wit...

Washington - President Bush's campaign to solve the problem of illegal immigration is meeting resistance on a new front, as critics fault the Senate reform bill for provisions that a conservative think tank says could allow 103 million immigrants to enter the United States legally in the next 20 years. *snip*

If immigration did take place at such a rate, said Snow, Congress could simply adjust the numeric limits in the law.

And White House aide Joel Kaplan noted that, even if Rector's analysis is accurate, there would be an upside to such a wave of immigration.

“These are people who will be paying taxes and contributing as workers in our society, and we'll also be mitigating some of the drains on Social Security and Medicare because they will be paying in as workers,” Kaplan said.

There are many reasons why the government wants and allows illegal immigration, this is but one, some of the reasons are even comprehensible, but when the people speak the government isn't supposed to plug its ears and holler "WE CAN'T HEAR YOU -- LA LA LA!"

Technorati Tags: britain, eu, dictatorship, tyranny, democracy, illegal immigration, nau, spp,