How are there not riots in the EU right now?
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Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
171–180 of 386 posts
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
What alternative do you propose? The politicians are elected representatives of and by the people.
Eurpean Commison is not elected by citizens of EU. They are nominated by the European Council and confirmed by the European Parliament. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission Similar system is for WHO. They are not elected organisations, yet shape our laws. This bother quite a lot of people and don't bring a trust in system.
Neither are government cabinets, ambassadors or generals.
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#173The European parlement is probably the best thing that we have in Europe, most good things and new rights come from there. At the opposite, the European Commission is probably the worse that we can have. It is totally corrupted (see the vice president with bags of cash given by the Qatar and co) or at least morally corrupted by lobbies. And no one elected this persons with so much power by the way. Good things to won…
> And no one elected this persons with so much power by the way. this is a very tired meme, they have been nominated and scrutinized by the people elected in what you called probably the best thing that we have in Europe i.e. the EU Parliament edit: elections solve none of the problems people think they solve. proof is governments are corrupt even though they are elected by the people. if the objections is "we can't…
In the U.K. we allow our elected representatives to “nominate and scrutinise” appointed positions in the House of Lords.
The result is a bunch of dodgy appointments in exchange for political favours. The whole process reeks of corruption, but it’s tolerable because the Lords don’t have the power to originate or block law (although they can frustrate the process).
The appointed EU Commission is much worse. The appointment process for commissioners always seems to select failed/tainted/alcoholic nobodies. The current EU Commission Chief is a failed German politician whose stewardship of the defence ministry was condemned from all sides.
And the EU Commissioners have a LOT more power than the UK’s Lords. For example, the EU Commission is responsible for coming up with all new EU Directives, setting budgets and representing the EU internationally.
The European Parliament is a charade of representative democracy, in that it waves through pretty much all legislation that the Commission comes up with, and if it votes “no” it tends to get asked to vote again until it says “yes” (see Copyright Directive, 2019)
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
What alternative do you propose? The politicians are elected representatives of and by the people.
Something like "There are only X laws allowed. Every time you want to add a new law and already have X laws, you must remove one existing law". Then we'd get laws covering the most important things without a bunch of bureaucracy on top of that.
That's a brilliant game mechanic.
I think for reality we should still remove power out of politicians
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you expand on why, please? From the outside looking in, most European countries seem much better at most things than where I live in the US (unless you're very wealthy, I guess).
There is now a pretty big wealth gap between the US and the "rich" EU countries. I expect it to keep growing. As the EU economy further stagnates, it will become a zero-sum game with, I expect, ever increasing level of government control and eventually repression. Even now I don't agree with your assessment that European countries are much better at most things. Even the glorified "free" healthcare turns out to be ne…
I’m wondering why didn’t you leave yet? The US doesn’t want to give you a visa or something?
Or is the tyranny here stopping you from leaving?
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#176Its just me that thinks there is something really wrong with the way politicians try to pass such controversial laws? Politicians bring up something controversial. Most of the time influenced by some lobby with very little interest in public benefit. To combat this lots of people need to do activism. Those people need to devote your time and energy to prevent such thing. So far it sounds good but after the dust settl…
What alternative do you propose? The politicians are elected representatives of and by the people.
What about every service owned by the government becomes private and offered by private companies and we remove the goverment completely?
I'd kill to see The Machinery of Freedom by D. Friedman in real life
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We all just want to escape this tyrannical dictatorship. Well, I actually do.
Can you expand on why, please? From the outside looking in, most European countries seem much better at most things than where I live in the US (unless you're very wealthy, I guess).
The big desirable thing about the EU is it's strong social net and relatively modern urban infrastructure. If you like the city or don't have a safety net from some other auxiliary source such as family or church it's superior. Otherwise the US wins out in factors such as an overall more vibrant economy, more personal freedoms, not having a major landwar on its borders, etc.
Also all this just applies to the actual good parts of each region. There's no point in comparing rural Alabama to Serbia cause we already know they're both shitholes.
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#178Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#179Its just me that thinks there is something really wrong with the way politicians try to pass such controversial laws? Politicians bring up something controversial. Most of the time influenced by some lobby with very little interest in public benefit. To combat this lots of people need to do activism. Those people need to devote your time and energy to prevent such thing. So far it sounds good but after the dust settl…
Meanwhile, other groups of people you might find insane are also devoting their lives to shouting down changes you actually support or find critical. The lesson for even the most faithful elected representative is that the signal/noise ratio of public opinion is too unreliableto take seriously.
Re: Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Take the money out of politics as much as possible and there will be less incentive for politicians to sell out their people
What do you mean by that? There’s already anti-corruption laws, and corruption is actually being prosecuted. To have less incentives, you’d actually have to pay politicians more, which would constitute putting more money into politics.
> and corruption is actually being prosecuted.
In which world do you live?