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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!enea!erix!mike
From: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: US weapons in Europe
Message-ID: <688@erix.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Nov-84 07:08:49 EST
Article-I.D.: erix.688
Posted: Thu Nov 22 07:08:49 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Nov-84 01:59:59 EST
References: <470@utcsrgv.UUCP> <116@talcott.UUCP> <6190@mcvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Organization: L M Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 30
Summary: 

In article <6190@mcvax.UUCP> steven@mcvax.UUCP (Steven Pemberton) writes:
>Just because European governments want US arms doesn't mean European people
>want them, as is well demonstrated in Holland among others, where the great
>majority of people don't want the wretched things. And it doesn't mean
>either that we won't complain about the governments wanting them!

I agree with you about the bombs, but I think your argument is a bit 
dangerous. What people want and what governments want are often two different
things. Most representative democracies do not work on the basis that the
people elected (Members of Parliament or what ever they are called) represent
the views of the people. The principle seems more to be that the people
elected should have the old "wise man" role and do what they think is
appropriate. 

This has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that 
they seemed to have been conned by the US polititians into thinking that US 
nuclear arms in Europe will contribute to European defence. 

One advantage is the their attitudes to capital punishment. For example in
Britain hanging would have been re-introduced long ago since the vast majority
of British electors support it.

The problem about nuclear weapons in Europe is that it is very hard to make
their existence a political issue which can affect the outcome of an election.
Recent documentary films on TV about the consequences of nuclear war do seem
to be having some effect - the only way to rid ourselves of the "beastly
things" is to make people in Europe realise that the nuclear arms issue is the
most important political issue in the world today.

Mike Williams