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Less armed, less free
The Washington Times ^
| June 7, 2005
| Richard Munday
Posted on 06/07/2005 2:05:07 PM PDT by neverdem
|
|
The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com
By Richard Munday Published June 7, 2005
A week in which the French and Dutch "No" votes to the European Unionconstitution rocked the whole project of European unification and left its future uncertain ended with a bizarre twist. On Sunday, in famously neutral, non-EU, non-European Economic Area Switzerland, the people voted by a 53-precent referendum majority to accept the Schengen and Dublin agreements. It was a move which, in the assessment of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels, now renders Switzerland a "virtual member" of the European Union.
It was not a referendum which the pro-integrationist Swiss government had wanted to risk. For nearly 15 years the Bundesrat had nursed the "strategic goal" of joining the EU, in the face of continuing popular opposition. The government's attempt to slide into the EU via the EEA was rebuffed by the people in a referendum in 1992, and in 2001 an initiative by Swiss Euro-enthusiasts to mandate negotiations for EU membership was massively rejected at the polls. The government might have hoped that attrition would wear down popular resistance — as it did in the case of joining the United Nations — to the point where the electorate would yield the required answer, but it would have preferred not to put it to the test.
The 600-page official "green paper" on Schengen was published just 10 days before the opening of the Swiss parliament's December session, and whipped through both houses in three days. It was indecent haste, many felt: material of such import, a senator from Zurich observed... |
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; dublin; europeanunion; schengen; switzerland
armatissimi e liberissimi, "most armed and most free,"
1
posted on
06/07/2005 2:05:07 PM PDT
by
neverdem
To: neverdem
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.
--Noah Webster
To: neverdem
The Second Amendment...
America's
Original Homeland Security!
Be Ever Vigilant!
3
posted on
06/07/2005 2:33:39 PM PDT
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
To: neverdem
The EU Firearms Directive, for instance, might have yielded little good or ill in other EU countries, where the private possession of guns was already severely circumscribed, but it will have a massive impact in Switzerland. Peace-loving Switzerland has one of the most heavily armed societies in the world, with perhaps 5 million guns among 7 million people; and the free possession of arms has served it well.
4
posted on
06/07/2005 3:45:41 PM PDT
by
45Auto
(Big holes are (almost) always better.)
To: neverdem
The Swiss have just hosed themselves.
"If weapons are a token of power," an old Swiss dictum asserts, "then in a democracy they belong in the hands of the people."
5
posted on
06/07/2005 3:47:06 PM PDT
by
45Auto
(Big holes are (almost) always better.)
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