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Britain Cancels Democracy

Posted on 29th August 2019

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There are many stories in the news about British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's latest ploy to push Brexit through: the suspension of parliament.

In This report on the Guardian , a reader quotes Oliver Cromwell's criticism of MPs, suggesting that the same applies to today's MPs: "Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil'd this sacred place and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral purposes and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves become the greatest grievance." It reads like the very definition of politicians.

This article, also on the Guardian, takes a firm position that the suspension of parliament is unconstitutional. The problem, of course, is that the UK doesn't have a written constitution; it is instead embodied in the roles of various people (including the Queen and the speaker of the House of Commons) and protocols (established practice) for how various things are done. Boris Johnson asked the Queen to approve the suspension of parliament; she had the opportunity and the grounds to refuse, but she didn't. Basically, the Queen failed to fulfill her constitutional duty. Thanks for nothing, Lizzie!

Where is the will of the people in all this? MPs are failing to take into account, and to represent in parliament, the will of the people, by which I mean their will now, not their will when the Brexit referendum was held (yes, people's will has changed!). BJ's government is also going against the will of parliament, and the suspension is his method of doing so.

I can therefore announce the death of democracy in Britain (it doesn't matter if you agree with my announcement - after all, without democracy, what you think doesn't matter)!