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Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)
7. What was done to Greece is what will be done to ANY left government under the EU.
Mon Jun 19, 2017, 11:47 PM
Jun 2017

If they weren't allowed to break the neoliberal consensus, no EU member ever will be.

You claim there are changes on the way in the EU. But in which way? There's been no change in any progressive direction under the EU(other than some nice bits of bourgeois social liberalism that were never transformative). Why would you possibly believe that the spending constraints will ever be lifted in the future? That the no-deficit requirement will ever be lifted? That "labor market flexibility"-i.e., the right to screw workers into the ground-can ever be rolled back? Which of these minor "changes" you mention will ever be on the side of the workers, rather than the wealthy? If the EU has always been neoliberal up to now, what makes you think that can ever change

The only institution in the EU anyone other than France or Germany has any real say in is the European Parliament-a body that, being powerless and irrelevant now, will always be powerless and irrelevant.

I'm not nostalgic about the past. I only mentioned the Attlee example because it was an illustration of possibilities.

Corbyn is the leader of the Opposition. He can only lose seats by fighting against Brexit now. It's impossible to elect a Labour government on a "stay in Europe" plank AT THIS STAGE OF THE GAME. Why even try when all it can lead to is lost seats? How is anything that gives the Tories a chance of a comeback ever in "the people's interests"?



I'd have a bit more respect for the arguments there... Ken Burch Jun 2017 #1
Ha, wondered when you'd be along. Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #2
Is there any possible honorable way for Labour to go full-on anti-Brexit at this point? Ken Burch Jun 2017 #3
OK, I'll try to take this para by para. But first your OP line: Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #4
I'm aware that a large group of Labour politicians before Corbyn came along Ken Burch Jun 2017 #5
Do you have any idea the economic mess the UK was in before it joined the EC? Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #6
What was done to Greece is what will be done to ANY left government under the EU. Ken Burch Jun 2017 #7
You mentioned the Attlee example simply because you don't have any answer at all Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #8
There is some pretty good stuff in Labour's platform... T_i_B Jun 2017 #9
Thanks, T_i_B. Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #10
The reason why they can get away with it right now.... T_i_B Jun 2017 #11
"white van man", not "white can man" Ken Burch Jun 2017 #12
Dude, if you're going to pick on an obvious typo Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #13
Sorry, the "can man" thing was meant as a joke Ken Burch Jun 2017 #14
Read this thread here: Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #15
I know the routine. And I'd have voted Remain. Ken Burch Jun 2017 #16
See, for you it's the luxury of being a hypothetical issue. Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #17
This is pretty much the same argument.... T_i_B Jun 2017 #18
Well, the Labour manifesto's carefully worded. Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #19
I'm not "rabid anti-EU". I support them on the parts of what they do that are progressive. Ken Burch Jun 2017 #25
Well, "Jeremy" must be a grave disappointment to you. Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #27
I'm fine with what Corbyn's doing there. I've never been rabidly anti-EU and you know it. Ken Burch Jun 2017 #28
First of all, I do agree that the Remain campaign was very poor; that if it had been better we might LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #29
"I think your feelings about Corbyn are driven by he apparent Labour-Tory cooperation in Scotland." Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #30
OK, I withdraw the word "apparent"...I use that word to mean "essentially proved" Ken Burch Jun 2017 #32
Well, if he stopped telling blatant lies about the SNP's record in government when he comes up here Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #33
You are assuming that the two are separable LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #21
'All it can lead to is lost seats...' LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #22
While I do not defend the EU's treatment of Greece, it was not mainly an ideological assault LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #23
You seem not to have noticed that Denmark now has a right-wing, anti-immigrant government Ken Burch Jun 2017 #26
So the EU's responsible for the choices of the Danish electorate? Denzil_DC Jun 2017 #31
'The EU didn't exist when Labour created the post-war social welfare state' LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #24
Good article! LeftishBrit Jun 2017 #20
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