Letter: Write what you know

Martin Cooney deserves much credit and support for his clear-headed summary of the EU referendum result in the U.K. (“With Brexit, the shackles of EU tyranny are severed,” Commentary, The Aspen Times, July 13). Like Cooney, I also am a Roaring Fork resident who supported (and voted for) Brexit.

In my recent fact-finding visit back to the country I lived in until 2006, I read and listened extensively to the arguments on both sides on every relevant issue and canvassed the views of as wide a section of the communities in Scotland and England as I could manage. By June 23, I had no difficulty in deciding that a Brexit vote was the correct one.

The institutions of Europe have become too remote from its constituents. There is a pitiable lack of democratic accountability. Ask the average British “Remain” supporter who his or her member of the European Parliament is, and they are unlikely to be able to tell you. They are largely unaware of the aspects of their daily lives that have been abrogated to second-rate bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg. They are unaware of the extent of power delegated to the European Court of Justice, which is the ultimate court of appeal for all issues affecting U.K. citizens.

How would the people of America feel if a decision materially affecting their lives were to be decided by a casting vote of, for instance, Slovakia in the event of a tie of votes in the European Parliament? Likewise, what would be the reaction in the U.S. if the highest court in the land were to be an international court of justice, unhindered by legal precedent, comprising the countries, for instance, of Canada, Mexico and half a dozen South American countries? I think I know the answer.

May I suggest that Roger Marolt listen to the Brexiteer Chris Grayling (a former member of David Cameron’s and now of Theresa May’s cabinets) being interviewed in a refreshingly robust, even aggressive, manner by Stephen Sachur of BBC’s “Hardtalk.” Grayling, in that 30-minute TV-interview broadcast, successfully countered all the arguments of the Remain camp succinctly and convincingly. When writing on matters on which he understands little, Marolt would do well to become better-informed before being so critical of a decision reached democratically in a foreign nation. It reeks of sanctimonious arrogance.

George Russell

Snowmass Village