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> But that respect between countries under the guise of the EU doesn't necessarily lead to a more effective system of government. Nothing "necessarily" leads t
by hackuser 10y ago
> But that respect between countries under the guise of the EU doesn't necessarily lead to a more effective system of government.
Nothing "necessarily" leads to anything. See my comment above about FUD like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12425125 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12425125
> With 28 member states all vying to promote their own wares ...
They'll be vying regardless. That's the nature, indeed the whole point, of democracy: To provide a system of rules for doing that fairly, rather than might makes right.
> it's going to be a lot easier for one nation to form new trade agreements that one conglomerate made up of members with completely different ideas and opinions.
More FUD. They need to deal with those other nations' interests one way or the other; who would choose anarchy over democracy?
The EU regularly makes trade deals among its 28 nations, far more quickly and flexibly than any other trade block. That's because, rather than stone-age international anarchy, which requires painful, undemocratic treaty negotiations that are so difficult that they can't be updated and revisited, they operate with normal laws and regulations.
How will the UK make deals now with those 28 nations? Certainly not as easily. How will their 60 million have the leverage to get the deals that an entity ten times bigger gets? Would the individual U.S. states be better off negotiating international trade deals absent the federal government? After all, then they wouldn't have to deal with all the other interests.
The ideology is naive. You have to deal with other people and their interests; that's part of life. You can do it by fighting them or by cooperating to create the best possible outcome. It also is moral, because we need to respect that others' interests are as important as our own, another element of maturity. It is called 'civilization' and even 'enlightened self-interest'.