by James Kirchick Political parties are by their nature coalitions. Various constituencies, sometimes socially and ideologically disparate, put aside their differences and join together in the pursuit of political power. It was a diverse group of African-Americans, urban “white ethnic” party machines, labor unions, Jews, intellectuals, and poor Southern farmers which comprised Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s […]
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Labour’s Pains and the Future of British Politics
Posted July 11th, 2016 at 10:41 am (UTC-5)
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Brexit: Britain’s Welcome Revival of Statehood
Posted June 27th, 2016 at 10:53 am (UTC-5)
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The “leave” campaign won the referendum on withdrawing Britain from the European Union because the arguments on which the “remain” side relied made leave’s case. The remain campaign began with a sham, was monomaniacal with its Project Fear and ended in governmental thuggishness.
Now, What Does Brexit Mean for U.S.?
Posted June 24th, 2016 at 4:06 pm (UTC-5)
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Uncertainty.
That is what we are left with following Britain’s vote Thursday to leave the European Union.
Financial markets hate uncertainty. So, the precipitous drop in stock markets worldwide should not come as a surprise. Yet it is staggering to see the vote’s outcome resulting in two trillion dollars of lost equity. So far.
Britain voted for the uncertainty of change. The status quo was not working for them. Similar political sentiments are echoed in the United States, personified by the success, so far, of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The change Britain voted for will likely bring on other change. Expect Scotland and Northern Ireland to look for ways to stay in the E.U., which may mean leaving the United Kingdom.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, questions whether voters understood the consequences. That sentiment seems to be borne out in the British blogosphere, where Google Trends says there was a 250-percent spike in searches for “What happens if we leave the EU?”
Result: uncertain.
The Logic of Brexit
Posted June 22nd, 2016 at 3:17 pm (UTC-5)
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No matter which side wins, a substantial part of the population of one of Europe’s major powers thinks so badly of the European experiment that they want to leave. The mere fact that a large portion of the public in such a country is so disillusioned…is a blow to the idea of a united Europe.