28 April 2016
Barack Obama and the UK’s 1776 Moment
A president of the USA opposing a Declaration of Independence? What a delicious irony!
By Neil Tidmarsh
When faced with a difficult and important decision, it’s always a good idea to consult friends, neighbours and allies for their advice and opinions. So we should thank President Obama for his recent counsel.
Readers of Shaw Sheet will know that I’m an enthusiastic supporter of the USA and its current president. Nevertheless – a President of the United States opposing a Declaration of Independence? What a delicious irony! Britain is facing its own 1776 moment, and Obama just didn’t get it! What on earth would Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and all the other Founding Fathers have thought about his views? Imagine…
The year 1776, a committee room in Philadelphia.
JOHN ADAMS: OK, Mr Jefferson, what have we got so far?
THOMAS JEFFERSON: (stops writing, puts down his quill pen and reads from the manuscript): “When in the Course of human affairs it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitles them – ”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (interrupting): Wait, gentlemen, wait! It’s just such a huge decision! IN or OUT? Are we sure we’re making the right choice?
JOHN ADAMS (scratching his head): You’re right. Perhaps we need to give this some more thought. At the moment we’re a member of one of the most powerful and wealthy political bodies in the world –
THOMAS JEFFERSON: But we want to leave – we want to become independent – because this body, with its distant and increasingly centralised power-base, is over-ruling our laws, undermining our democracy, controlling our trade and taking our money, and has no respect for the sovereignty of our people….
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: But will we able to survive – let alone thrive – on our own? We’re so small, and this is the modern age, gentlemen, the Age of Empires, not the age of little independent nations like our own. We’re just a mere handful of sparsely-populated states on the edge of a huge wilderness, remote from the centres of power. Are you sure we wouldn’t be better off staying in the big political conglomerate, staying subject to the British crown, even if we don’t like it very much, even if we have to sacrifice some of our freedoms? Wouldn’t it be worth it to be safe and protected?
JOHN ADAMS: If only we could see into the future… if we could summon someone from, say, the 21st century to see what happened, how everything worked out…
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Yes – if we did go independent, then there’d be Presidents of our United States in the future, wouldn’t there? Let’s see if we can contact one of them, ask him how it all turned out, ask his advice!
THOMAS JEFFERSON: Summon a President of the USA from the future? Well, I guess it’s worth a try. Gentlemen, let’s put our hands together, close our eyes, and concentrate…
(A loud bang, a bright flash, a puff of smoke, and a tall, slim, crew-cut figure wearing a dark blue suit appears in the middle of the committee room.)
EVERYONE: (Startled) Who are you?
GFP: I am the Ghost of a Future President of the USA. (Looks around). Wow, one moment I’m in the UK, next I’ve jumped about three and a half centuries back in time, by the looks of it.
JOHN ADAMS: The UK? What’s that?
GFP: Oh, it’s this little country, part of the EU.
THOMAS JEFFERSON: The EU? What’s that?
GFP: It’s this big political and economic conglomerate. The UK wants to leave, wants to become independent, because the EU, with its distant and increasingly centralised power-base, is over-ruling their laws, undermining their democracy, controlling their trade and taking their money, and has no respect for the sovereignty of the people. On the other hand, the UK is worried that it might not be able to survive, let alone thrive, on its own. After all, the 21st century is the age of globalisation, of big political/economic conglomerations, not small nation states. It’s wondering if it might be better off staying in, surrendering its freedoms just to remain safe and to protect its prosperity…
ALL: (Looking at each other, excited, amazed): Well, that’s incredible! Because we’re in a similar position, you see, that’s exactly what we’ve been talking about, and we were wondering if you might be able to give us some advice! We’ve got to make this huge decision. IN or OUT. Just like the UK, by the sound of it…
GFP: Well, in that case I’ll give you guys the same advice as I gave the UK. Stay IN! You’d be mad to turn your back on the huge economic and political influence of the conglomerate of which you’re a member! Risk striking out on your own into dangerous and uncharted waters just for the sake of freedom and democracy? Crazy! Insane!
THOMAS JEFFERSON: But you say this EU has little respect for the sovereignty of its people?
GFP: That’s right. Ask any ordinary citizen in France, Greece, Spain, Italy, the UK…
THOMAS JEFFERSON: But… but… what about the idea that government derives its power from the consent of the governed?
GFP: Huh?
THOMAS JEFFERSON: (shuffles among the pages of manuscript on the desk in front of him) Here we are… listen… (reads) “…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it…”
GFP: Huh?
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: And you say that the EU is over-ruling the laws of its member-states?
GFP: That’s right. Ask any ordinary citizen in France, Greece, Spain, Italy, the UK…
THOMAS JEFFERSON: (shuffles among the pages of manuscript on the desk in front of him): Listen to this.. here we are… (reads) “…We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us”. Oh, yes, and this: “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good, He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent shall be obtained, and when so suspended he has utterly neglected to attend to them..” And this: “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws…”
GFP: Huh?
JOHN ADAMS: And you say the EU doesn’t seem to understand democracy?
GFP: That’s right. Ask any ordinary citizen in France, Greece, Spain, Italy, the UK…
THOMAS JEFFERSON: (shuffles among the pages of manuscript on the desk in front of him) Listen. (Reads) “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”
GFP: Listen, guys, what I’m saying is, stay IN, hang on in there, and then you can get everyone else on-side to fight for those rights, to reform the system from within!
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: But why on earth hasn’t the UK been trying to do that already?
GFP: Oh, it has. For years. For years and years and years.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: And yet the EU still hasn’t reformed itself?
GFP: Not a jot. Diddly squat. It seems that no-one else can be bothered to do anything about it.
THOMAS JEFFERSON: (shaking his head) Once again, same old story. Listen. (reads) “In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury”.
GFP: Listen, guys, let’s get real about this, OK? In the real world, at the end of the day, it’s all about the dollar, isn’t it? “It’s the economy, stupid!” as another GFP would say to you. Forget everything else!”
JEFFERSON: But what about freedom?
ADAMS: And sovereignty?
FRANKLIN: And democracy?
GFP: Come on, guys. Do you really think you could cut it as a trading nation on your own? Alienated from the British, French, Russian and Dutch superpowers? Choose OUT and you’d have to go to the back of the queue to get trade deals signed with any of them. It would take forever. And what about Security? Aren’t the Native Americans determined to strike terror into your hearts? Don’t you think you need to co-operate with the red-coats for your own protection? Don’t be crazy. Stay IN, where it’s safe and secure. Remember what I said back in the 21st century: the whole world wants a strong UK in a strong EU ! (Begins to fade) Listen, guys, got to go. Got a busy schedule. Saudi Arabia, Germany… Nice talking to you, fellas. Have a nice day… (Disappears).
ADAMS: Well, gentlemen! We have our answer! Not OUT, but IN! A strong American province within a strong British empire!
FRANKLIN: Phew, that was close! We nearly took a completely wrong turning! Nearly threw world history onto the completely wrong track!
JEFFERSON (tearing up the manuscript): Won’t be needing this Declaration, then. (Sighs). Shame, I was hoping that it would forever be “to the world, the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government”. Oh well. (Shrugs, and picks up his quill pen again). So… let’s see… what do we want now..? (Reads aloud as he writes). “To His Majesty King George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. Almighty Sovereign, We, your subjects in your North American colonies, greet you with the love and gratitude of true sons and daughters of the mother country, and write to assure you of our continuing and endless loyalty to your crown and heirs…”
Please click here if you would like a weekly email on publication of the Shaw Sheet
