Letter: Brexiteers Should Look West

Published on: 21 May, 2016
Updated on: 21 May, 2016

From Colin Davies

In his letter: An Indictment of the EU from German Professors, Mr Bridger is looking east and seeing all the problems. He should turn around and look west, across the Atlantic, and see what can be gained by the “dreaded” integration.

For over 200 years the USA has grown from 13 to 50 states. These states saw the benefits of integration and worked at building something, not destroying a great enterprise.

The result has been 50 states with much independence. They set their own traffic laws, cars are registered by each state separately, they each choose whether to have the death penalty and can raise taxes. These are the items that I know of: there are probably more.

Why this fear of European integration? Churchill is reported of saying, after World War 2, “What we need is a United States of Europe”. He was right then and he is still right, especially with reports that Putin is looking forward to the Europe’s collapse .

Responses to Letter: Brexiteers Should Look West

Bernard Parke Reply

May 21, 2016 at 4:48 pm

Yes, he might have said that but history tells us that he did not have Great Britain in mind. He believed our future should be with The Commonwealth and strong ties with our special relationship with the USA.
Maddie Fountain Reply

May 21, 2016 at 5:10 pm

In the US each state has autonomy: in the EU we don’t. They change our laws, interfere in the running of our country, dictate a lot of our finances etc. They govern our farmers and the way crops are produced. I could go on – but you get the gist.
David Wragg Reply

May 21, 2016 at 6:56 pm

Churchill did indeed support a United States of Europe, but he also made it clear that the UK should not be part of it.

Comparisons with the USA are misleading as they all had a fresh start and were all migrant communities, but Europe has many different languages, cultures and traditions.
John Perkins Reply

May 22, 2016 at 8:22 am

The United States gained their independence by rejecting the empire that controlled them.
Gordon Bridger Reply

May 22, 2016 at 10:40 am

The USA was only forged after eliminating the native population and then sealed into unity after a devastating civil war.
Colin Davies Reply

May 26, 2016 at 2:50 pm

Yes, there are differences in detail between the formation of the USA and the attempt to forge a similar arrangement in Europe but the lesson to be learned from across the “pond” is that unity is strength and that geographical unity helps – we are after all classed as being part of the Continent of Europe however much some folk may like to see us as another continent.

The policy of “unity is strength” has long been proved both in politics and in wartime – “united we stand, divided we fall”.

The motivation for the formation of the EU grew from a determination to prevent another war in Europe. Was not WW2 Europe’s civil war? Let’s learn lessons from history, the history of Britain in the 17th Century, the history of the USA in the 19th Century and the history of Europe in the 20th Century.

If there is a lack of democracy in the EU then let’s get “stuck in” and show the leadership necessary to improve this defect. As both sides of the Referendum Debate say, the UK is a great country. If we get stuck in we can do it.