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"Representative democracy". The power to accept or deny things like the treaty of lisbon lies with the members of parliament that represent the people, not with
by sveme 8y ago
"Representative democracy". The power to accept or deny things like the treaty of lisbon lies with the members of parliament that represent the people, not with the people itself. Why should it be different for things like the treaty of lisbon than for things like taxation?
- sonnyblarney 8y ago"representatives" cannot arbitrarily change the constitution, create new forms of government and devolve national powers without real consent. For the same reason Scotland cannot leave the UK without a referendum, for the same reason Quebec cannot leave Canada. The Treaty of Lisbon represented enough change that it was to be ratified by referendum. But guess what? It was voted down too often among the first to hold referendums, so the elite just kiboshed the whole thing. And skipped the referendums knowing they would lose. Now consider that the French population roundly rejected the treaty [1], and then their government simply changed a few items and passed it anyhow, without again deferring to the people. Is the 5th Republic even legally legitimate now? The French Government, acted directly against the will of the the people to devolve signifiant sovereign powers. It's an appalling and brutal transgression of democracy, and there should be consequences. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_French_European_Constitution_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_French_European_Constitut...