This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
Richard North: Irish Voters Dump Latest EU Treaty - 'Ireland is the only country where citizens can directly make their voices heard on the EU's reheated constitution. And today they sent it packing...'
Thank heaven and thank goodness. The initial commenter at the PJM link sums a few things up nicely:
"As a citizen of that small country “on the periphery of the Community” who personally voted “no” to the Lisbon Treaty I would like to make something clear.
"The Irish people were the only ones allowed to vote on the treaty simply because any change to our constitution MUST be ratified by the citizens of Ireland. The populations of the remaining 26 countries of the EU were not given that opportunity. Although only 3 million Irish people were technically deciding the fate of the other 490 million in the EU it is essential to point out that only two years ago the Dutch and French people took the same view as we did……so its not too difficult to imagine that the 3 million Irish voters DID in fact speak for the rest of Europe who were not given a voice.
"The political classes are rapidly losing touch with the will of the people throughout Europe and the shocking pomposity with which our own policital parties demanded a “yes” vote without deigning to explain in any way, shape or form just why exactly it was a good thing for Ireland to cast aside its veto in Europe emphasises the point. Scare mongers like Libertas and scum like Sinn Fein did not have the impact they or the media like to think in rejecting the treaty. We Irish may be stubborn but we are not stupid. When our constitution was drawn up in 1937 (after gaining independence from Britain) we chose the democratic route despite the fact that at that time fascism in countries like Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia were all the rage."
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Thank heaven and thank goodness. The initial commenter at the PJM link sums a few things up nicely:
"As a citizen of that small country “on the periphery of the Community” who personally voted “no” to the Lisbon Treaty I would like to make something clear.
"The Irish people were the only ones allowed to vote on the treaty simply because any change to our constitution MUST be ratified by the citizens of Ireland. The populations of the remaining 26 countries of the EU were not given that opportunity. Although only 3 million Irish people were technically deciding the fate of the other 490 million in the EU it is essential to point out that only two years ago the Dutch and French people took the same view as we did……so its not too difficult to imagine that the 3 million Irish voters DID in fact speak for the rest of Europe who were not given a voice.
"The political classes are rapidly losing touch with the will of the people throughout Europe and the shocking pomposity with which our own policital parties demanded a “yes” vote without deigning to explain in any way, shape or form just why exactly it was a good thing for Ireland to cast aside its veto in Europe emphasises the point. Scare mongers like Libertas and scum like Sinn Fein did not have the impact they or the media like to think in rejecting the treaty. We Irish may be stubborn but we are not stupid. When our constitution was drawn up in 1937 (after gaining independence from Britain) we chose the democratic route despite the fact that at that time fascism in countries like Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia were all the rage."