Many of the members of the EU do not have a long legacy of democratic rule so autocratic rule seems natural to them, hence the ease of it's implementation.

LOL:)
Please explain.
Most countries in Europe have had a democracy for more than 1000 years.
The Westrogothic law from the 13th century.
"Sveær egho konong at taka ok sva vrækæ".

Many of the members of the EU do not have a long legacy of democratic rule so autocratic rule seems natural to them, hence the ease of it's implementation.

LOL:)
Please explain.

Damn. I wish I'd thought of that.

You know what Janne? I think Bet may be on to smthg!

I'm gonna go check some dates and brb.

Edit: In no particular order

- Spain 29 December 1978
- Austria 1955
- Greece 11 June 1975 (a bit earlier than that so other dates may be a bit off here too. Take with a grain of salt!)
- Italy 2 June 1946
- Finland... way to go Finland! :) (about 100 yrs AFAICT)
- France also looks good on paper
- Germany 23 May 1949
- East Germany 3 October 1990
- Lux also 1945 but looks good
- Holland like Lux
- Belgium like Lux
- Portugal 25 April 1976

And that's just from the first wave of EZ countries.
Let's not get into the second wave which are almost self-explanatory.

Please explain.

Germany to name one. but I proposed an hypothesis not a theory.

---

And stop the whining about Obama

I think Obama has been a great president, and I would vote for him a third time.

Watch this:

http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/president-barack-obama-just-tell-him-you-re-the-president

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Please explain.

Germany to name one. but I proposed an hypothesis not a theory.

There is also Spain and Greece.
But those countries had dictatorship only for a short period during the 20th century.
Europe is MUCH older than that.

There is also Spain and Greece.

Yes but both of those countries had absolute monarchs for many centuries prior as did many others. Hardly a strong cultural foundation for democratic rule.
Not part of the EU but Russia also fits my hypothesis after thinking about it a bit more I also include members of the Ottoman empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire.
LOL we are coming up with enough examples to advance my hypothesis to theory status.

---

- Finland... way to go Finland! :) (about 100 yrs AFAICT)

Only 100 years?
The lions got Sisu:)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu

Hyvä Suomi!

Sorry Gordon must be a country block on that vid it's not showing .....mmmm does it need the Adobe Flash Player to play ??

On the intel and I haven't loaded it yet

---

Ok reposting sorry (dates have been very sloppily copy/pasted)


- Spain 29 December 1978
- Austria 1955
- Greece 11 June 1975 (a bit earlier than that so other dates may be a bit off here too. Take with a grain of salt!)
- Italy 2 June 1946
- Finland... way to go Finland! :) (about 100 yrs AFAICT)
- France also looks good on paper
- Germany 23 May 1949
- East Germany 3 October 1990
- Lux also 1945 but looks good
- Holland like Lux
- Belgium like Lux
- Portugal 25 April 1976

And that's just from the first wave of EZ countries.
Let's not get into the second wave which are almost self-explanatory.

----
It would be fair to say Greek democracy is only really 40yrs old. Harsh. But more fair than not.

(you could maaaybe stretch that back to 1960 or so and then hit pause for a 7yr dictatorship but I think it's a bit sloppy)

There is also Spain and Greece.

Yes but both of those countries had absolute monarchs for many centuries prior as did many others. Hardly a strong cultural foundation for democratic rule.
Not part of the EU but Russia also fits my hypothesis.
LOL we are coming up with enough examples to advance my hypothesis to theory status.

I think you should check up absolute monarchs in Europe in your history book and you will be surprised.
There aren't that many.
If we take the Nordic countries for instance.
From the law from the 13th century
"Sveær egho konong at taka ok sva vrækæ".
Translation. "Swedes have the right to elect a king and also evict him"
Have it happen that a king been evicted?
Yes. 1809 was the last time a king was evicted here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_IV_Adolf_of_Sweden

- Greece 11 June 1975 (a bit earlier than that so other dates may be a bit off here too. Take with a grain of salt!)

Strange. I was in Greece 1974.
Military rule ended in July 1974 after having been behind a failed coup against President and Archbishop Makarios III in Cyprus that same summer, with the result that Turkey occupied the northern part of the island.

Sorry Gordon must be a country block on that vid it's not showing .....mmmm does it need the Adobe Flash Player to play ??

I don't know. Try it from the main page...


http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Thanks Gordon it works , I needed the Flash player so all good

---

So why did all the EU countries sign up for that?!

Gary that is not what it was when the EU was created, it morphed into what it is.
A hypothesis I have is many of the members of the EU do not have a long legacy of democratic rule so autocratic rule seems natural to them, hence the ease of it's implementation.

Well, I think the issue is they let the documents be written in French and German. Those diplomats took what should have been about 500 words and turned it into such a complex maze that left wet paint at every twist and turn that everyone is painted into corner and there is not a path to go down as they all end in dead ends.

OB: Trump loosing in suburbs

---

Watch this:
http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/president-barack-obama-just-tell-him-you-re-the-president

Like it:)
The coolest president on the planet!

I'm posting this because of the reasons in the title. Why The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored

So why did all the EU countries sign up for that?!

Gary that is not what it was when the EU was created, it morphed into what it is.
A hypothesis I have is many of the members of the EU do not have a long legacy of democratic rule so autocratic rule seems natural to them, hence the ease of it's implementation.

Thank you for this piece of the puzzle. It was quite the revelation. Not in a "panacea" way obviously... but it did instantly help me understand why Spain, for example, still tolerate a fascist (by today's standards) like Rajoy. Even though I called him a Franco just a few days ago... I still never made the connection.

Anyway, Brexit & Trump are quite intertwined as I've mentioned before and I've got one of my favorite people - Matt Taibbi - to the rescue :)

(article link in The Way Ahead thread)

"...But whatever, let's assume that the Brexit voters, like Trump voters, are wrong, ignorant, dangerous and unjustified.

Even stipulating to that, the reaction to both Brexit and Trump reveals a problem potentially more serious than either Brexit or the Trump campaign. It's become perilously fashionable all over the Western world to reach for non-democratic solutions whenever society drifts in a direction people don't like. Here in America the problem is snowballing on both the right and the left.

Maybe the slide started with 9/11, after which huge pluralities of people were suddenly OK with summary executions, torture, warrantless surveillance and the blithe disposal of concepts like habeas corpus.

A decade and a half later, we're gripped by a broader mania for banning and censoring things that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

Democracy appears to have become so denuded and corrupted in America that a generation of people has grown up without any faith in its principles.

Forget Plato, Athens, Sparta and Rome. More recent history tells us that the descent into despotism always starts in this exact same way. There is always an emergency that requires a temporary suspension of democracy.

I don't buy it. My admittedly primitive understanding of democracy is that we're supposed to move toward it, not away from it, in a moment of crisis.

It doesn't mean much to be against torture until the moment when you're most tempted to resort to it, or to have faith in voting until the result of a particular vote really bothers you. If you think there's ever such a thing as "too much democracy," you probably never believed in it in the first place. And even low-Information voters can sense it."

I'm posting this because of the reasons in the title. Why The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored

Trump: A Rapist.

Hillary: An Enabler of a Husband also accused of Rape, and other sexual...

Trump MUST GO!!!

Hillary MUST GO!!!

You know better than those who participated in the primaries and caucuses? Shouldn't the choice of the millions who did participate be respected?

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

And anyone who calls Trump supporters ...ist and ...phobia, are disrespecting them?

Facts are?

---

I'm posting this because of the reasons in the title. Why The New Child Rape Case Filed Against Donald Trump Should Not Be Ignored

Trump: A Rapist.

Hillary: An Enabler of a Husband also accused of Rape, and other sexual...

Trump MUST GO!!!

Hillary MUST GO!!!

You know better than those who participated in the primaries and caucuses? Shouldn't the choice of the millions who did participate be respected?

Hi bobby...

Then you do respect the Trump supporters.

And anyone who calls Trump supporters ...ist and ...phobia, are disrespecting them?

Correct?

Why not answer the question you were asked?

To answer yours, if anyone labels all Drumpf supporters in the manner you suggest, they are likely guilty of over generalizing; there are undoubtedly sections of Trumps supporters that are ...ists and ...phobes, just as there are sections of any sufficiently large group. That being said, the degree to which ...ists and ...phobes are represented in Drumpf's supporters may be higher than other large groups, and there is data to support the view that Drumpf supporters may be more likely to be racist than Americans in general. I don't find this particularly surprising, as it seems to me that Drumpf has made statements that the ...ist and ...phobe sections of American society might find appealing.

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...