Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "European Parliament elections 2019: all you need to know about how they work" video.

Tell them how to vote, but don't tell them that the EU parliament is about as relevant and democratic as that of the Chinese parliament.
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@TmanaokLine this says more about the woeful state of US democracy than it does about that of the EU. It is not so much that the EU has raised the bar, it is more like the US is lowering it. Don't worry there is ample evidence that the federal EU is heading in the direction of the level of corruption that exists in the US political system. You are not lagging behind the raised bar of the EU, you are leading the EU in lowering it. The eurocrats have watched your progress towards an undemocratic plutocracy with envy and are attempting to match your level of political corruption. Particularly admired is the way you have made bribery legal by renaming it lobbying and political funding. One area you might learn from the EU is in the way they hide it rather than boast about it.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 it would be true were it not for brexit. This was pure democracy at work, the first time in decades. Whatever you think of the result, it was democratic, since it was one person per vote and every vote counted towards the result. The controlling political classes around the world are concerned by the growth of populism, which threatens their ability to govern with disregard for the will of the majority of the people. The so called democratic countries, who are use to creating an illusion of democracy, are looking enviously at the dictatorships, such as China, Russia and many middle Eastern countries, who do not bother with this pretence. The reason the western "democracies" are facing revolution is because the people have lost confidence that they leaders can be trusted to work in the people's best interest. This is not surprising give the levels of corruption and incompetence in high places.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 the terms hard and soft applied to brexit did not appear until after the referendum. If you had seen the UK government campaign before the referendum you would be clear that the UK electorate were only offered a "hard brexit". No mention of a customs union, yet we still voted to leave the EU. Representative democracy only works if the politicians represent the best interests of all the people. This has not been the case for a long time. This evident from the fact that they refuse to abolish the house of lords.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 could it be that the only reason you consider the brexit referendum was poorly done is because it did not produce the result you wanted? What followed as exit negotiations were disgraceful and still are. As to defending the democratic credentials of the EU, even the Eurocrats know they lack democratic credibility, why else would they feel the need for a road show to discuss it.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 I do not think the UK population were ill informed at the time of the referendum. The government made clear what it considered to be the consequences of leaving the EU. As to the question it was made clear that the UK would be leaving the customs union and would becoming an independent country again. With regard to the EU democratic deficit, I suggest you Google the scholarly papers on the subject. There is ample evidence that the EU lacks democratic credibility, even neglecting the undoubted corruption involved in its governance.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 I was referring to the democracy alive festival in the Netherlands. With regard to the information provided to be UK people, the promise was that brexit would result in he UK becoming an independent country, free of EU controls. That is the state before we joined the EU so WTO rules. Unless you were in the UK at the time, you cannot comment on the information that was supplied to the public. It is true the Irish border issue was not mentioned, but there was no reason for this to happen, as brexit was not dependent on the Irish border.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 there is no guarantee that brexit is a breach of the GFA. The UK has said it will not implement a hard border. If the EU implements a hard border it is their responsibility. I do not believe that you can use Google to fully understand what I formation was supplied o the UK people during the referendum campaign. It would take far too much time to assimilate all of it. How many of the PM's speeches did you review? I should point out that I resent being interrogated. I feel under no obligation to answer your questions unless you answer mine.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 so you concluded that the UK people were lied too, but you were not actually here. Let's see who the British people elect as MEPs, as there now seem little chance the UK government will be able to avoid the EU elections. Has the EU parliament ever exercised it's power to fire EU commissioners? The UK held a vote on changing to proportional representation. It was rejected. If my memory is correct, Adolf Hitler was elected to power by a system of proportional voting. I cannot defend the UK house of lords, I voted for it to be abolished, unfortunately the UK government was unwilling to do this, but I also voted for brexit and they are refusing to do that also. It is interesting that you think the house of lords is undemocratic, I agree,it is a feudal system anachronism. it is populated by europhiles Lords, who do very nicely from UK membership of the EU, either through EU pensions or via the CAP or both.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 you cannot really be comparing a factual event of a fire in Notre dame to a six month political campaign. The idea that you could understand this from the internet is not credible. You admit that parliament has never exercised the right to sack an EU commissioner, so you do not know how well that would work. They failed to much about the undemocratic selection of the replacement of the head of the commission. It is a widely held view among historians that proportional representation did aid in the election of Hitler and his nazi regime. It provided him with the necessary foot hold to power. I did not blame the EU for the house of lords, just that vested self interest in the house of lords ensures a europhile bias in UK government.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 you want an example of undemocratic selection, how about Martin Selmayr's appointment as secretary-general. The EU is not innocent in the bias of the views in the house of lords. As. Understand it, those claiming an EU pension are limited in what they can say or do regarding harming the EU. Basically they risk losing their pensions. Lords in receipt of large grants from the CAP are unlikely to vote to reduce it. Proportional representation allows extreme minority parties to gain power, as the EU is likely to be reminded of in the near future.
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@jannoottenburghs5121 well you seem to be unaware of project fear, which was designed to ensure a remain vote. As to the Irish issue. The uk cannot be bound to the EU simply because of the Irish border issue. It is interesting that until very recently he EU and the RoI government were claiming they had a plan to keep the Irish border open even in the event of a hard brexit. Now because it is politically convenient and strategically required, the EU is playing down these plans.
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@jannoottenburghs5121 you must explain your comment about one person one vote. I consider the referendum a pure form of democracy because it is on a single issue, with one person one vote and every vote counting equally. The problem with representative democracy is that trust has broken down that the candidates will represent their constituents. The candidates loyalty is to the party and party loyalty is to the vested interests that fund them. World politics is corrupt and the big power blocks, such as the US, Russia, China, EU are the most corrupt of the lot.
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@jannoottenburghs5121 the choice to give up NI is not in the power of the UK government, it is in the hands of the people of NI and they don't seem to want it. Maybe an EU implemented hard border will change their minds.
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@jannoottenburghs5121 the number of people who vote in elections is going down as more and more become disenchanted with corrupt politicians. Unfortunately no country has been sufficiently brave to include "none of the above" on the ballot paper and make that mean something. There will always be a section of the electorate whose vested interests coincide with those of the parties standing, so there will always be a vote to count and not a total boycott. There are still some with faith in the system, though their numbers are dwindling overtime. The referendum attracted a much larger turn out than even a general election. There appointment as secretary-general a number of reason for this: feeling were very strong on the issue, it was sold as a once in a life time decision, it was the first chance the public had to express their views on EU membership, but I suspect it was mainly because every vote counted. Britain has never been United about EU membership and was lied to when it joined. It was never asked for an opinion on further integration and the anger at being ignored and taken for granted was expressed in the brexit result.
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@mfbqboqbjmbijxk8050 you do the research, I have nothing to prove as Hitler did come to power in a country using proportional representation. QED.
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