Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
My New Year's resolution is to stop Brexit dead in its tracks & keep the UK in the EU.
Okay, it's a biggie but someone's got to be the responsible adult...
Don't care for British sovereignty? You like other nations making decisions for your own nation? Odd, especially from an American standpoint.
What about immigration? You are fine with the EU deciding how many your country should take in?
Anyway....this thread is about New Years resolutions, not politics.
Are Arizona & Texas overly worried about being part of the US? Are they that bothered by the Federal Government setting the same rules for everyone? And if ever a nation should understand the benefits of immigration, surely you're it?
Anyway, it IS my New Year's resolution because I've already given up the cigs & cut down on the booze and everyone needs a goal in life...
Comparing Texas and especially Arizona to Great Britain and the EU is a stretch. But I would submit to you that those states can and do have states rights that often don't concur with federal submission. Not sure how that would correlate to Great Britain and the EU's powers.
Immigration benefits? Sure my friend....but LEGAL immigration. And certainly NOT to be decided by a union of OTHER nations...thereby relinquishing sovereignty.
Just to be clear...I am discussing it with you in an open and honest dialect....with opinions being explored. Glad you aren't taking it as an insult.
No insult taken whatsoever. It's the New Year and a time to be joyous...
Okay, maybe not Arizona but what about California then? A huge population & it's GDP alone is about the same size as ours.
Like your states, we've always had our own laws & ways of doing things even within the EU. It's called 'subsidiarity'. We didn't adopt the Euro. We opted out of Schengen so we still notionally retain control over our borders (no-one dictates to us how many immigrants we have to take).
Yes we have a lot of immigration but it's mainly the legal variety. Anyone that signs up to join the EU knowingly signs up to 'free movement of labour'; exactly like what you have in the US. Until Brexit occurred, the UK was doing rather well and the economy drew in a lot of folks from Eastern Europe, Ireland & Spain. These people generally work, pay their taxes, live quiet family lives and aren't in any way 'terrorists'!
Sadly it's this legal, sensible immigration that some people, whipped up by our homegrown alt-Right nut-job types, have vocally objected to. If you listen to their arguments, all foreigners are lazy, parasitic spongers & criminals who 'steal' jobs from British workers. It's old fashioned xenophobia, paranoia & bigotry plain & simple.
Could California legitimately secede from the US simply on the grounds that it didn't like people from Arizona or Texas coming into the state to live & work? And even if it could separate itself on the grounds that it was 'different' to the rest of the US, would it be in their own self-interest to do so? I don't think so.