Ten years of Blogspot Blogging

Last month marked my tenth anniversary with Blogger, now a part of Google. I had of course been digitally trying to impose my views on complete strangers well before that.

A post that somehow best sums up this apparently pointless decade of time wasted at the keyboard, (just as my first blog post was published on Samizdata as linked within the body of the following comment) was strangely also not first published by the now mere subsidiary of Google, but by IB Times last Monday. It is here and covers the Italian election, which seems to indicate it would have been better had I properly grasped that language and continued to blog from there!

Italy at the Polls: Time to Say 'Stop' to Tyranny

By Martin Cole: Subscribe to Martin's RSS feed

February 25, 2013 11:24 AM GMT

On 16 November 2011 an outrage occurred within the European Union, the stain of which may perhaps only now start to be erased by Italian voters this very weekend

The EU, in circumstances which are not yet fully revealed, removed the democratically elected Prime Minister of one of its founding and largest member states, whilst that state was at the forefront of a mounting existential economic crisis. The victim of this Prime Ministerial dismissal, Silvio Berlusconi, has subsequently claimed that the crisis itself was the consequence of the actions of another EU founding member state and/or of the EU Commission itself. It was indeed a former powerful member of that appointed body who stepped into the departing Prime Minister's shoes and governed the country, mostly through similarly appointed apparatchiks.

The individual installed, Mario Monti,and the man he replaced have both faced the Italian electorate this past Sunday in a General Election, where voting continues this morning, with exit polls expected by mid afternoon this Monday. Frontrunner at present is a former Communist, Pier Luigi Bersani, while a large protest vote is expected for dark horse anti-EU candidate and blogger, Beppe Grillo.

Ten years ago, when I felt compelled to begin my own blog because of the non-democratic direction in which the EU was headed and directly owing to clear censorship of its own controlled Europa internet discussion forums, I wrote this commentary, linked here, (co-incidentally enough written from Italy) warning that the member states then framing the new constitutional treaty for the entire EU stood at a crossroads between tyranny and democracy. As we all can now see far too clearly, they lamentably, deliberately, chose the former route.

Replacing the Italian Prime Minister, following on from the horrors in Greece and promissory note deception with Ireland, has been the clearest possible evidence that such a tyrannical course, (as defined by Karl Popper) was indeed the one selected by those in real control of the EU in the intervening decade.

Italy in its elections this weekend has a major opportunity to send a signal that such a course is no longer acceptable to the citizens of twenty-seven once-democratic nations.

As I suggested in my original critique, a way ahead, even in today's excruciating economic and non-democratic aftermath of that particular wrong turn, is still quite possible - thanks mainly to the fantastic democratic opportunities now offered by the internet revolution.

How much longer will these petty tyrants who run the EU close their eyes to the direct democratic example that lies at the heart of their continent? For over one thousand years the Swiss have fine-tuned their division of powers between four linguistic groups and among differing cantons as numerous as the EU's present member states.

As far as humanly possible they have probably achieved in their Constitution a division of power which is as close to perfect as can possibly be attained - yet each day we go about our business in growing chaos as if such an example did not even exist, let alone on(e) in our midst. Matters devolved to the re-affirming member states of a renewed democratic European Union in one pan-EU referendum could thenceforth be determined by direct keyboard vote.

The citizens of Europe are increasingly sickened by both the non-audited corruption in EU expenditure and the non-democratic nature of both the Commission and some of its institutions. The structures and procedures of the so-called Parliament are demeaning, both to Europe's electorate, as evidenced by falling votes, and the calibre of its elected members.

People will rid themselves of such control one way or another - let us hope the Italians, who have much indeed to feel bad about, have shown the rest of us a way ahead in their present General Election.

Martin Cole runs several politically themed blogs, mainly Ironies Too, and tweets and comments about the erosion of liberty

  

Well, as all now know, the result made Grillo's party the clear winner and the EU machine is now busily manouevering to neuter the clear will of the Italian people. I will try to resist, but I will probably be here at my keyboard, blogging away as these things unfold - we shall see!