Thursday, 28 March 2024

Liberal Future: Anglesey, Brecknockshire, Caernarfonshire & Ceredigion Youth Say … Blood Over Gold – BreXit Now!

.

Liberal Future: Anglesey, Brecknockshire, Caernarfonshire & Ceredigion Youth Say … Blood Over Gold – BreXit Now!

LIBERAL FUTURE – the youth wing of the National Liberal Party – believes that the end game of the European Union (EU) is the creation of a United States of Europe. This will have to be a highly centralised political and economic system. It would be just perfect for the EU which is simply a rich man’s club for powerful corporate big business and banking elites. However, it won’t be great for those of us who are opposed to gigantism and who believe that ‘Small is Beautiful’.

Whilst we’re fairly sure about the endgame of the EU, we’re still not too sure if this is by accident or design.

The EU started life as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 and seven years later morphed into the European Economic Community (EEC). As their names suggest, these were purely economically-driven organisations.

However, this changed when the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992. It created the EU with its three pillars system. They covered economic, social and environmental policy; Common Foreign and Security Policy and Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters. This in turn led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro, which was launched in 1999.

It’s easy to see why many ordinary Welsh working folks believe that the EU effectively resembles a Superstate in waiting. With the prospect of a EU army now edging ever closer, it certainly looks like a deliberate plan of homogenisation, albeit still economically-led.

With all this in mind, Liberal Future (LF) cannot understand why Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales – under its then leader Leanne Wood campaigned to stay in the EU during the 2016 Referendum.

In the end the majority of Welsh voters backed Leave – 854,572 voted for Brexit – 52.5% of the electorate. (interestingly, this was more than those voting for devolution in the Welsh referendums of 1979, 1997 and 2011.)

However, new Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price AM, doesn’t like democracy when it goes against him. Therefore, he’s backing calls for the Orwellian-sounding ‘People’s Vote’. Here, he reflects the arrogance of those who want to remain in the EU.

First of all, he is the Welsh Assembly Member for the 53% Leave-voting Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency. Therefore, he doesn’t even represent his electorate – which indicates the farcial nature of our ‘First Past The Post’ voting system! However, he’s still intent on telling voters what they should think and do.

Secondly, as the leader of Plaid Cymru (PC), he wants to dump one relatively small Union – the United Kingdom – yet wants to stay within a much larger Union – the European Union! Why anyone – let alone a so-called Welsh nationalist – would want to surrender their nationhood to a supranational organisation like the EU is beyond us.

Furthermore, PC is a ‘left nationalist’ group (which appears to support a form of decentralist socialism) yet it wants to attain independence within the European Union! Surely the first duty of any ‘nationalist’ group is to protect its nation and people by achieving economic and food sovereignty? How can PC do this whilst it supports the capitalist (and part-globalist) EU? In fact, how can PC claim to be any sort of ‘socialist’ group whilst it collaborates with the capitalist EU enemy of Wales (indeed, the enemy of all European nations) and of ordinary Welsh workers?

Independence for Wales within the EU is also an oxymoron. Let’s be honest with ourselves – it’s not as if Wales can exert much influence on the EU. Wales has four Members of the European Parliament and only one of them – Jill Evans – represents Plaid Cymru. From this we can only conclude that Plaid are happy enough to be the underlings of big business. They’re simply acting as cheerleaders for the EU and are more than happy with the trappings of power.

Liberal Future also believes that the new PC leader also reflects the naivety of those who want to remain in the EU.

Here, Adam Price could do not better than consider the words of Matthew Goodwin, an academic (he is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent) a bestselling writer (who is the author, or co-author of several books, including one on National Populism which was the 2018 Sunday Times Bestseller) and well-known speaker.
Goodwin appears to be more interested in evidence – “as opposed to the misleading claims and stereotypes that dominate our public debate.” He is particularly interested in Brexit and Eurosceptism, which he treats in a fair and responsible manner. For, as he noted on his Twitter feed @GoodwinMJ

‘Brexit was the first moment when a majority of people outside of parliament formally asked for something that a majority of people inside parliament didn’t want to give. And leavers knew exactly what they were voting for, as almost every study has shown. They wanted powers returned from the European Union and lower immigration. But many were also asking for something else: A radical shake-up of what they see is a broken settlement, a place where London gets a lot and everywhere else gets little, where left behind workers have good reason to feel left behind, and where all of us are right to worry about inequality, corporate power, and whether our politicians are even listening.

Some people argue that all of that could be fixed while staying in the EU. But that’s misleading, and the point is that when we were in the EU it didn’t happen. Maybe Britain needs this psychological shock to bring about change, to bring politics closer to the people. Brexit will be economically disruptive but Britain will survive.

And we should remember that most people don’t only think about GDP. They care deeply about things like identity, community, belonging and tradition. And they are driven by things like recognition, voice and dignity, words that we don’t hear much about today.

I don’t think that undermining Brexit, diluting it, delaying it indefinitely or even overturning it are the way to go. Nor do I think that asking people to vote again and again until they give you the right decision is a sign of a healthy social contract. We should be able to work with this moment to explore the possibility of national renewal rather than undermine it. So Britain faces a choice, at least in my view: It can work with this moment and try to make our society fairer and our economy more equal and our politics stronger or it can lead us down a riskier path, where I just see further polarisation, division and populism.’

Liberal Future agrees with Goodwin when he notes that ‘most people don’t only think about GDP. They care deeply about things like identity, community, belonging and tradition. And they are driven by things like recognition, voice and dignity, words that we don’t hear much about today.’

There’s a saying for this type of rooted outlook on life: Blood Over Gold. In short, it means that ordinary working people cannot be bought. Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price – and any other member of the establishment who seeks to deny the will of the people concerning Brexit – would be wise to remember this.

• THIS ARTICLE should be read in conjunction with the following:

Liberal Future: For A Europe Of Free Nations – BreXit Now! http://nationalliberal.org/liberal-future-for-a-europe-of-free-nations-brexit-now

Liberal Future: County Londonderry, County Antrim & County Down Youth Say … Independence From the EU – BreXit Now! http://nationalliberal.org/liberal-future-county-londonderry-county-antrim-county-down-youth-say-…-independence-from-the-eu-–-brexit-now

Share:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • blogmarks
  • Blogosphere
  • Google Buzz
  • PDF
  • email
  • Live
  • MSN Reporter
  • MyShare
  • MySpace
  • Technorati
  • Webnews.de

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close