In my article "The Extreme Middle and a New Theocracy," I argued that supporters of the EU worshipped at the altar of a new Theocracy. As the arguments over Brexit grind on, nothing has changed my view. Indeed, I'm more convinced than ever that it is true.
Forgive me for repeating familiar facts, but it is necessary. Following David Cameron's renegotiation with the EU, his deal was put to the people. The 2016 referendum was held because parliament asked the people to decide whether to stay or leave the EU. The referendum act was passed after legislators were told that it was intended to be the people's decision. It was made clear to them that whatever the people decided would be implemented. The government, in its leaflet, repeated that promise. It was repeated in the subsequent 2017 election manifestos. It was made 100% clear during the referendum campaign what voting leave meant. Leaving the Single Market, Customs Union and jurisdiction of the ECJ. The referendum was held in accordance with our democratic first past the post (FPTP) majoritarian system. The same system we use to elect MPs.
In May 2011, a referendum was held to change our electoral system from FPTP to Alternative Vote (AV). An amendment requiring a turnout threshold of 40% for the vote to be binding was defeated in the House of Lords. In the event, turnout was 42.2%. 32.10% voted "Yes" and 67.90% voted "No." Therefore, 71.52% did not vote to retain our present system, a statement you may find odd, but bear with me. The people's decision was accepted with no attempt by either house to block or reverse it. Nor was there a legal challenge. With this precedent, one might have imagined that the 2016 EU referendum with its 72.21% turnout would have been democratically embraced. It was not. It is this that has convinced me that we are not dealing with logic, but with a theocracy. Anna Soubry has often claimed that BREXIT is not valid because 62% did not vote for it. She had no problem accepting the AV result when 71% did not vote for FPTP. She certainly had no problem accepting her 2017 election as an MP when 64% of Broxtowe electors did NOT vote for her. Unlike Tory defectors to UKIP, she also sees no reason to offer her constituents a people's vote on her defection.
Is the position of rebel pro EU anti democracy MPs simply a case of rank hypocrisy? On the face of it, yes, but I think the truth is more complex. The EU, by any sensible measure, is a democratic and economic failure. Mass unemployment is a human cost paid by its victims for what is increasingly a dictatorship of the self-interested. The banking union is not complete. The Euro that was supposed to ensure Economic, Monetary and Political union is struggling. As the Euro Zone teeters on the edge, there are calls for Germany to abandon it. Holger Schmitz, CEO of Schmitz&Partner AG said: "As the economically strongest member of the EU, Germany is more and more becoming the cash cow. In order to save itself from this, Germany would have to seek a withdrawal from the euro." What he means is that qualified majority voting is shifting the power base. Debtor nations may soon be in a position to force the transfer union without which the Euro was never more than a political ploy. A ploy skilfully exploited by Germany to beggar its neighbours.
Considering the mess and suffering it has created. The long-term prognosis (based on statistical fact) of a decline in both population and importance in world trade; one must wonder how any rational person can support the EU. Therein lies the problem. Its support is not rational.I have never heard any politician explain why they want to dissolve our country into regions that will become part of a new country. The United States of EU that no one has ever voted for. This new country is being created by stealth, by an elite that displays the fervour of priests and acolytes of a religion. Despite all their predictions being wrong, the supporters of the theocracy continue to believe. They continue to repeat the prophecies as if by their repetition they will become true. They stare at a sunset, believing it to be a new dawn.Those who disagree with them are heretics, stupid "untermenschen." The priests and acolytes have no problem in using Nazi propaganda methods to traduce their opponents. Their disciples accept the gospel without question. Democrats are the EU's equivalent of the Nazi's Jewish and Slavic people, a focus for irrational hate a group derided as ignorant, old and malign obstructing the purity of the new order.
We may watch with a mixture of bemusement and horror as fanatical devotees of some religious sects whip themselves bloody or pierce their bodies in ritual humiliation. They believe god demands they suffer as a penance for their sins. The EU god also demands suffering and penance for sins against it. The sin of democracy earns a special place in hell, disobedience, excommunication. Since the referendum, the EU has subjected this country to ritual humiliation. The latest is ordering our parliament to accept the withdrawal agreement that they imposed with May's connivance. Non-believers, democrats, have a problem with this. They do not understand how their elected leaders can consent to our country being humiliated. The explanation can only be that our leaders' belief in the EU god is so strong that they consider the treatment just. The defeat of democracy a just and proper outcome.
We are approaching the end of the Brexit process. It will result either in respect for democracy or a renewed struggle. MPs elected by a majoritarian system, but refusing to accept the legitimacy of a majoritarian decision is breathtakingly insolent. The people will remember and, I hope, put party aside at the next election to vote for democrats. This struggle is important not only for the UK. It is vital for Europe too. Most continental countries are new to democracy. Its position is fragile and threatened by the EU. If we fail, we will fail them too. The EU represents a past that never worked, an Imperial mirage that has cost life and treasure for centuries. It is time to say no to the EU god, its priests and acolytes. It is high time for reformation and the restoration of our individual sovereign rights.