The United Kingdom Leaving the European Union

[Chef]

In some tiny-small way do you see the USA similar to the EU in any way? Wealthy states sending all their money to poorer ones etc? On a smaller scale obviously... In the long run the EU is trying to become one big country... Similar to how Yugoslavia was, it wants several federal republic states and the EU can act as the central committee

not at all. the states do not pay for each other. all citizens pay taxes to the federal government and that gets doled out to the states based on population mostly.

the states are autonomous in our system (much to the shagrin of the imperial fed folks), they grant power to the fed for certain things like national defense but they ultimately have the power to function as their own countries (see 10th amendment, or what's left of it). the eu is more like an over arching fed that rules everything.

in america, power and authority starts with the individual and works up. in europe it starts with the government (collective) and works down. that is why most europeans absolutely do not understand americans super strong sense of individuality and personal liberty even when it is against the collective. this is strictly my opinion, but i think it stems from the monarchical system of being "ruled". we just don't get that here and i think europeans and the rest of the world always want a certain aspect of that in their lives.

[Plowright]

Fair enough, sounds interesting... I have never covered US politics and don't think I ever will as there isn't a specialist in our department at my Uni... The whole idea of bottom-up Vs top-down sounds very similar to Yugoslavia (sorry to keep coming back to this!) Yugo was all bottom up and the 1974 constituion have power to the individuals not the government. Also the Kraigher commission allowed states to keep their own wealth... However, it wasn't exactly a democracy :/

[SWedd523]

Unfortunately Chef is speaking more from what we strive for in America, those aspects don't seem to exist much anymore and the ones that do are sadly being legislated into submission by the fed playing on the emotions of the citizenry.


Here's to you Obama/Pelosi/Blooomberg/etc, grandstanding of the deaths of children to take advantage of the 2nd Amendment


Sorry for the tangent

[Chef]

Unfortunately Chef is speaking more from what we strive for in America, those aspects don't seem to exist much anymore and the ones that do are sadly being legislated into submission by the fed playing on the emotions of the citizenry.


Here's to you Obama/Pelosi/Blooomberg/etc, grandstanding of the deaths of children to take advantage of the 2nd Amendment


Sorry for the tangent

you forgot bush, chaney, powell, rice, mccain, 2001 congress playing on fears of 9/11 to pass the patriot act and grant authorities to FEMA and homeland security.

and you forgot mccain and chris christie on the 2nd amendment.

and you forgot all about the SCOTUS

[SWedd523]

you forgot bush, chaney, powell, rice, mccain, 2001 congress playing on fears of 9/11 to pass the patriot act and grant authorities to FEMA and homeland security.

and you forgot mccain and chris christie on the 2nd amendment.

and you forgot all about the SCOTUS

Without a doubt. Those are the rights I alluded to that "don't exist anymore".

Just referencing the most recent and currently tangible political event to draw a parallel. Didn't want to take the tangent too far off track

[Chef]

gotcha.

back on topic:

plow, what do you guys learn about our government structure over there? it is just from a federal level? what is the common british student/citizen interpretation of how we are structured? what is their opinion?

[Plowright]

To be truthful we don't learn about the US structure of government all that much, but then again I have never studied politics (I do International Relations). The common British Citizen view is that the US states act relatively individually- things like drinking age, driving age, laws on guns... I mean when I go to Gulf Shores Alabama we drive 20 minutes to Florid (pensacola/ Perdido) and do all our food shopping there as there is no tax on food. Things like this show that various states are very different, in GB all our laws and taxes are the same everywhere unless you go to Scotland they might change a little (No fees for University unlike £9000 a year for England, just raised from £3000). Also people in the USA love their state a lot more than Britain, have it on their number plate, they are quite proud of their state... In England we have countys which are obviously much smaller, but nobody pays any attention to them at all in reality, they are genuinely not used for anything- no state championships... This as I said before suggests that the USA are a collection of states that work together as it is mutually beneficial and come together on things such as Foreign Policy, Defense.

Then there are some people who just think the USA is like England but with big food

[Bogg]

In England we have countys which are obviously much smaller, but nobody pays any attention to them at all in reality, they are genuinely not used for anything

Except for secession referendums....