The referendum as a decision making tool is horribly flawed and this step allows true sober second thought to be brought to bear by both the leaders and the electorate. As observed, the whole process itself is an invitation to lie by the interest parties who are pushing their agenda. It certainly cannot be viewed as a valuable learning experience.
What has been forgotten in this sudden enthusiasm for referendums is that great issues are normally a compromise between several interest groups. You have a Gordium knot and the referendum is merely Alexander;s sword. It simply makes a mess and smashes the solutions entered into by all the contributing factions. In short it is stupid.
The best example of this folly would be Scotland exiting Great Britain. The entirety of Scotland's modern history and that of its peoples is its massive contribution to the wealth and creation of the British empire and its successors. Its prior history was utterly barbaric and similar to that of Afghanistan today. All its talent was focused on killing each other and not particularly on Nation building. The only true national identity was the Clan and it was the emergence of highland regiments under English officers that brewed up a united Scotland. It was the lack of internal unity that led to the unification act...
Throwing all that away on the whim of popular opinion is crazy and utterly self serving for the greedy few.
All such arrangements do have mechanisms in place to resolve imbalances. The true good that may well come out of Brixit is that these mechanisms get formally reformed. The reality is that the EU needs an effective parliament along with a party system that must carry twenty percent of the popular vote in two thirds of the countries involved. That stops true factionalism against one's neighbor.
Anti-Brexit Ruling Gives Surprise 'Victory for Parliamentary Democracy'
Published on
Thursday, November 03, 2016
Anti-Brexit Ruling Gives Surprise 'Victory for Parliamentary Democracy'
High court ruled government does not have unilateral power to withdraw the U.K. from the E.U. by triggering Article 50
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/03/anti-brexit-ruling-gives-surprise-victory-parliamentary-democracy
The U.K.'s High Court on Thursday ruled that only British Parliament can decide to leave the European Union, slowing Prime Minister Theresa May's unilateral Brexit plans in what one leading lawyer called "a resounding defense" of democracy.
The ruling (pdf), written by chief justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, sided with a crowd-funded coalition of anti-Brexit plaintiffs and stated that the government does not have unilateral power to withdraw the United Kingdom from the E.U. by triggering Article 50, which sets out how a country may voluntarily leave the union.
"The most fundamental rule of the U.K.'s constitution is that Parliament is sovereign and can make and unmake any law it chooses," the ruling states. "This principle is of critical importance and sets the context for the general rule on which the government seeks to rely."
Pro-Brexit lawyers had argued that prerogative powers would be a legitimate way to take up "the will of the people" who voted to leave the E.U. in a June referendum. But the High Court disagreed.
"The government does not have power under the crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to Article 50 for the U.K. to withdraw from the European Union," Lord Thomas wrote.
A government spokesperson responded to the ruling, which came as a surprise for many, by promising that ministers would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. That hearing is set to take place on December 7-8.
As the Guardian explains, "Unless overturned on appeal at the supreme court, the ruling threatens to plunge the government's plans for Brexit into disarray as the process will have to be subject to full Parliamentary control."
Dominic Cummings, director of the Leave campaign, wrote on Twitter that the high court's ruling was reasonable at heart and noted that Parliamentary sovereignty means the government cannot and should not try to change domestic laws by use of the prerogative.
Brexit opponents celebrated the ruling. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called onthe government to shelve its appeal and disagreed with the Leave's argument that the Brexit vote reflected the true will of the people, stating, "That the U.K. government is now in the position where the court has ruled against it and is insisting that Parliament must vote before Article 50 can be triggered underlines the chaos and confusion at the heart of the Tories' handling of Brexit."
"Let's be clear—the prime minister has not tried to avoid Parliament because of constitutional principles but because any vote in Parliament would expose the complete lack of a plan for what Brexit means."
Labour MP David Lammy wrote on Twitter that the ruling was "A huge victory for our parliamentary democracy. This is what real sovereignty looks like."
And Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn responded, "This ruling underlines the need for the Government to bring its negotiating terms to parliament without delay. Labour respects the decision of the British people to leave the European Union. But there must be transparency and accountability to parliament on the terms of Brexit."
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