In light of the upcoming referendum, I recently briefed my US colleagues on the situation as I see it and, amid the coming noise, were there tech opportunities?I have always believed that Europe’s strength lay in its diversity, its competitiveness, its friendly rivalry, its cooperation, copying the best practices of neighbours, its independent pride and patriotism. It’s not news that, generally, most Brit’s have a sweeping disregard for politicians. None more so than the power hungry expense cheating Mandarins of Brussels. How can it be just, that such ‘suits’ fairly control the affairs of a variety of sovereign states from afar. History shows us that they clearly can’t. Just look at Greece, the founders of democracy, the home of heroes like Hercules and Achilles, currently being bullied by bureaucrats from Brussels. These EU megalomaniacs are removing all parliamentary self rule from the birthplace of democracy. We watched as those power crazed Eurocrats stripped all self respect from our Greek neighbours. Without democracy what do we have? Dictators. The people of Greece, (the Demos) do not want the reforms and bailout rules and repayments forced upon them, they’ve been marching the streets burning cars to get that point made. Without the will of the ‘Demos’ you are left with merely the ‘Cratos’, which is ‘the power to compel by force of law’. Thousands of years ago, while most of Europe was scratching for food in the mud, Plato and Socrates were pondering the benefits of diplomacy and statesmanship. Oh how I would love their opinion of Brussels.
But how, I wonder, does Brussels view the rest of us? I would suggest they see us as nothing more than a series of pawns, moves in the game of control and dominance of Europe. If we’re not careful, their wish to impose their will upon the EU member states will clearly be looked upon in the history books as a bloodless coup, a sort of WW3 without the bullets and bombs. Total dominance and control of Europe, handed to Brussels in return for the dream of peace and prosperity. But it hasn’t been peaceful. It’s been brutal. Sadly though, it seems many of our leaders have been asleep, gorged at the table of plenty, while the serious carving was going on in the kitchen, where things get hot; and we all know what people do when they can’t stand the heat. Brussels is acting in a similar way to that of a gang of bullies, comfortable making demands on our hard earned money in the form of ludicrous taxes and crippling interest rates, backed up with the threat of caging us should we dissent. These legalised loan shark tactics are enforced by uniformed men wielding guns in the name of ‘legislation’ and under the guise of ‘authority’! They spin whatever propaganda is needed and tell whatever lies they deem necessary to maintain the current status quo, or, indeed increase their powers by making member states more and more indebted and cowed to their authority. Take the recent eurozone bailouts for example. Article 125, clearly states that no member state shall be liable for the debts of any other member state. Indeed Angela Merkel said there was ‘no possibility of having to bail out another member state’. Yet look at how the EU has ‘helped’ by putting the majority of southern Mediterranean countries into decades of indebted slavery and poverty for their youth. It’s going to be a fascinating few months in the run up to the referendum. The stakes are astronomical. With such an enormous loss or gain of power, those with the most to lose will be deploying immense dexterity when it comes to discrediting their opponents. Like watching a good magician misdirect the audience, it will be a treat to see how and where the stories take us.
Why did we ever enter the common market? The reasoning behind the formation of a common market was admirable. To stem any threats of war and open up free trade routes, which was exactly what was voted for. Then it grew to sort of cover education, healthcare, hygiene and improved international infrastructure. Seemingly virtuous and proper. But now its evolved into a European super state and no one voted for that. Being a citizen of an extended and bloated Europe makes no sense, there is no national pride in being European. I am British, I am Austrian, I am German, I am French, I am Italian… I am not European. We must never allow our patriotism to be taken away, we must never give up our identity or liberty. Free trade within a mutually respectful common market is one thing, but centralised control is something else entirely. For a model that works, we only need to look to the Swiss, the most successful of all European nations, who have always remained outside the EU. Having such centralised power, rules and regulations will kill off free enterprise and small competition. Many large multi-national corporations regularly and successfully lobby the EU for stricter rules and regulations, for only one reason, to kill off smaller competition that cannot afford the burden of compliance. Similarly you will hear many Charities, NGO’s and Nonprofits proudly defend Brussels, saying that it would be folly to leave the EU. Ask yourself why? Then follow the money. The flow of money never lies. See how the EU dishes out vast sums year on year to those very organisations. Are they giving an independent opinion or are they simply puppets dancing for more EU cash?
You will hear more propaganda on the run up to the referendum. You will hear that: ‘food will be more expensive‘. No it won’t, it’ll be cheaper because we won’t have to subsidise continental farmers. ‘Fuel will be more expensive‘, it’ll be cheaper as we won’t be directed to buy more expensive solutions. ‘Bills will be higher‘, no they won’t, we’ll get to keep the £350Million per week we send to Brussels. That’s enough to give the entire UK a 70% reduction in council tax every month. ‘There will be no free trade‘. Absolute nonsense. Non EU countries like Iceland, Turkey and Norway have free trade within the EU. ‘We’ll lose 3m jobs‘. Even more nonsense. Who said we need political unions with countries such as Russia and Brazil in order to do business. Of course we don’t. ‘Free Trade v Free Movement‘. We have free trade with Columbia, but no one has asked for free movement of people. ‘Calais and Dover and Immigrants‘. This is simply not an EU issue. It’s a French and English issue, between two countries borders. ‘More expensive goods‘. No it isn’t. It’ll be no different, if not better for us as we’ll be outside the EU external tariff system and free to negotiate our own deals with growing economies from the Commonwealth. ‘Only £1 per day to stay in‘. That’s £50M a day! If we kept that for ourselves, we could build a new hospital every week. We could wipe out the austerity cuts twice over. ‘We can be Independent within the EU‘. More nonsense. Brussels can overrule everything in the UK, even Parliament. They control everything, from how much tax we pay, how many immigrants we have to take, how much fish we can take from the sea, what our employers can and can’t do. ‘We’re safer in the EU‘. Oh please, ask any criminal or terrorist if open borders makes their life harder, or just a little easier?
Government, by its very nature is corrupt on power, so what’s the difference whether it’s Brussels or London? Brussels has its own agenda, which means that the best interests of the UK are not aligned with its own. At the moment Brussels controls most of the important aspects of UK Government meaning that UK citizens are in effect being doubly governed and doubly controlled. Generally, I have serious doubts about all government and authority and what true motives and exterior controls influence policy, direction and decisions. But that’s another story for another day. By removing one layer of Government (EU) we are then able to deal with the other in singularity. At least that way we’ll be fighting on one front instead of two and the remaining adversary will be familiar and its interest, you would hope, should be more aligned with ours. So, how do we walk away without bloodshed? Simple, we just walk! We should not confront or protest against our loss of liberty, it only highlights the plight of a victim. And, we’re not victims, we are a collective of individuals who are about to push back against a bully. We are about to do the only thing that will get their attention – walk away and leave them with no one to rule. When they have no one to control, what’s their role, what’s their purpose? They have none. But will we? Or will we do what we normally do and take the line of least resistance. Many people are afraid of change, so they do nothing except wait until its just a bit too late. Then look back with regret, and moan. So, I urge us to drop apathy and this time do something, right or wrong, but do something. I believe I would rather walk away and fight our own fight – not theirs. Although, the fight isn’t really ours, we’re merely the ones being brave enough to say ‘enough is enough’. The real fight is to lay a foundation of opportunity for our children. One that is not indebted to Brussels for generations. We fight for our children’s liberty and freedom; a future of less control; less oversight; a future of more opportunity.
And oh, what a splendid battle it could be, what advantage we have in Great Britain. Ours is a nation founded on a history of greatness, earned by the bravery, vision and tenacity of our bloodline. We are born of maritime prowess that over the centuries established trade routes where there were none. We formed a commonwealth of nations bound by what has become the global language. We are, and have always been, world leaders in innovation, invention, education, entertainment, creativity, commerce, science, finance, business and more latterly, technology. And it’s technology that we must embrace. It’s making the world a much smaller, easier space to navigate. Global markets are now a click away. We must emulate the hard work of our forefathers by establishing new tech trade routes, with innovative and attractive world class funding; and tax models that open up new and exciting opportunities in areas not yet explored. Yes, if we have the vision, passion and resolve, we could morph the UK into a global tech hub that would secure a bold new future.
And how bright a future it could be, if only we are brave enough to believe in ourselves and take the necessary action. Our forefathers fought and died for the very freedom that allows us the opportunity and liberty to rule our own destiny, rule our own country under our own flag. Don’t wipe away that blood stained heritage and discard, indeed, throw it into the waiting hands of the Eurocrats. Do we want to be a nation ruled by the EU? Or, do we want to recover our dignity? Do we want to recover our sovereignty? Do we want to stand beneath our nations flying flag without being told to take it down? Do we want to make a stand for our future generations? Will the history books see us as the generation that gave it all away, or will we be the new founding mothers and fathers that fought for the repatriation of freedom and justice and liberty?
Now is the time for bravery, now is the time we need to look into the eyes of the person standing next to us and ask: “Where have all the heroes gone”?
For further, very informed opinion on the EU referendum, please google Danniel Hannan.