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| Abstracts from.... | |
Wildcat
oil strikes: Europeans are finally waking up to the demise of democracy. |
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Angry
people across the EU are discovering the fine print in all the treaties
signed by their leaders. |
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by
Janet Daley, 02 February, 2009 |
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....demonstrators
in Paris and the recalcitrant electorate in Germany are waking up to the
consequences of what two generations of European ideologues have thrust
upon them: the burden not just of their own economic problems but also
the obligation to accept the consequences of their neighbours' debts and
failures. Each country is true to its own history in the way it expresses
its rage: in France, they take to the streets and throw things at the
police, in Germany they threaten the stability of the coalition government,
and here, we revive the tradition of wildcat strikes…. |
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| ….but there it is. And here we are, with a generation of European political leaders who almost all accept the terms in which their predecessors gave away the most important principle of that great democratic pact between a free people and its government. While times were good and there was enough prosperity to keep everybody distracted and happy, the loss went almost unnoticed except by a few persistent and despairing critics. Well, not any more. The American government may be committing itself to a policy that is economically unsound and even irresponsible, but its insistence on maintaining the compact with its own voters – on putting their concerns first – will at least ensure that democracy will survive there. I am not at all sure that will be true in Europe. | |
| Well.... | The first paragraph's slightly 'humorous' look at the differences between the French and German populations display their societal pangs quite well, if not their national politics.... |
| The second shows why it is that American democracy is a better rendition of the Athenian model (read the full article for your own conclusions).... |
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The
full article is available at: |
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