The Dutch Choose Nee

Fire of Liberty

While I waited patiently for the results of the Dutch vote on the EU Constitution to start rolling in, I perused the various papers of the UK looking for their coverage of the vote. As I surfed through the web-versions of The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, The Times, I found the similar stories about how the government in The Hague was concerned about the "No" side of the ballot prevailing and how the folks in the Netherlands were afraid of losing their liberal laws on prostitution and drugs at the hands of the EU. Luckily, I came across a quote inThe Guardian that made my day:

"We have enough laws in this country already," said Maarten Kriz. "We already have a Dutch constitution. Why should we vote for another one?"

This great but short observation by Kriz basically lays out one of the best reasons why people in France and Holland should abhor an enormous supranational superstate like the EU. People are already satisfied with their current constitutions and laws and don't feel its necessary to junk their own institutions like constitutions - which in the case of the Netherlands, whose constitution has existed since 1815 - for something drafted by political elites in a four year period that ignores the various differences between all of the states in Europe.

This anger towards more regulation and laws as well as a great fear of ceding one's individual liberties along with the national sovereignty to this monolithic superstate via a dictionary sized constitution has been one of the biggest factors in pushing the "No" vote in the Netherlands. You only have to look at the results in today's vote in Holland to see this great animosity amongst the voters. According to exit polls in the Netherlands, the Dutch people knocked the EU Constitution on its back by voting "Nee" by some 62% with an enormous turnout of 63% which will push the Dutch lower house of parliament to accept the result and object the treaty. Hopefully this vote will convince the people running the EU that the EU Constitution is dead.

Of course other nations who have scheduled a national referendum should also have the right to reject or accept the constitution, instead of their parliaments doing some kind of turn around and pushing the constitution through. Let's give these people a say and see how many other nations will shoot it down. While my call for the continuation of the referendums in the remaining nations is as effective as a gnat in the face of a giant, the UK's Daily Mail seems to have a greater reach. According to a powerful commentary from the editors at The Daily Mail, the UK and other nations should push the continuation of these referendums because it's the right thing to do and it keeps the EU at bay. What I found interesting in their commentary is the little known fact that the EU and it Commissioners have created several loopholes to ensure that they can continue to push forward with this further intergration. Just read a sample of what the elites have up their sleeves on pushing through the Constitution or key parts they want living:

But Brussels has other ways of getting what it wants. There is already talk of using the constitution's 'Declaration 30', which says that if four-fifths of member states ratify the document, EU leaders should discuss ways of implementing the treaty.

And if that can't be managed, other devices come into play. Whole chunks of the constitution could simply be adopted by agreement, without any reference to the voters.

Indeed, the scandalous truth is that it is happening already.

This constitution, for example, authorises the creation of an EU foreign ministry and diplomatic service, the harmonisation of criminal justice across the continent and a so-called Charter of Fundamental Rights.

But the political elite didn't bother to wait for a vote. They simply went ahead in advance of the referendums they expected to win.

Now a lot of people will argue that this is The Daily Mail just speaking to its euro-skeptic readers but the sad truth is that these unelected bureaucrats have a way of subverting the voters choice especially when it goes against the wishes of the elites, they've done it before. If the remaining nations allow its people to vote on their respected EU Constitution referendums like The Daily Mail recommends, then we can expect many more nations to take more and more legs out from under the elites supranational fantasy.

Let's hope that this will finally kill such a monstrosity.