For the past 2 years politicians in the United States and the United Kingdom have been engaged in a self destruction exercise. I won't bother talking about what is going on in the US as it is so farcical that I wouldn't be surprised if future historians looking back on this presidency will assume that they do not have all the bits of the puzzle. This US President will surely be known as the Peacock President (for his vanity and his brains).
What is happening in the UK is more interesting in that it shows the limits of direct democracy and the advantages of representative democracy. Today two of the leading advocates of Brexit resigned from the government in dissatisfaction with the state negotiations. Which negotiations you may ask? The ones with the European Union? Absolutely not. Since the "People's Brexit Vote" the British government has been spending its time trying to figure out what it meant and what they should try to negotiate with the EU. All the debates have been inside the Conservative Party (with Labour being able to avoid making choices or having a clear position thanks to being in opposition). In spite of all this debating and internal negotiation we are still no nearer to understanding what the UK position is on its future relation with the EU. So 2 years of frenetic political activity leads us to the following conclusions:
What is happening in the UK is more interesting in that it shows the limits of direct democracy and the advantages of representative democracy. Today two of the leading advocates of Brexit resigned from the government in dissatisfaction with the state negotiations. Which negotiations you may ask? The ones with the European Union? Absolutely not. Since the "People's Brexit Vote" the British government has been spending its time trying to figure out what it meant and what they should try to negotiate with the EU. All the debates have been inside the Conservative Party (with Labour being able to avoid making choices or having a clear position thanks to being in opposition). In spite of all this debating and internal negotiation we are still no nearer to understanding what the UK position is on its future relation with the EU. So 2 years of frenetic political activity leads us to the following conclusions:
- Asking complicated questions in a referendum where the answer can only be Yes or No is pointless (A bit like asking a child which flavour ice cream he or she would like but only allowing yes or no as an answer)
- Politicians have an extraordinary capacity to ignore simple facts and unpleasant realities
- Politicians can spend their whole time navel gazing this does not seem to impact the machinery of government in any meaningfull way.
- If (?) politicians are irrelevant do we really need governments?
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