[Student2806]

Ha, absolutely not. Britain is fiercely independent, that's why we're so eurosceptic. Why would we reject Europe and then agree to be a new US state? Makes no sense.

[Barksy]

With the US and most of Europe a part of the WTO, I see no need for silly unions to trade. Why can't we all just be independent but trade with each other freely? The EU hinders the UK more than it helps.

[navarre]

I think we can be both for Europe and America, without integrating into either.

Britain is like a cross between America and Europe. With America, we share the same English language (although slightly different variations of it), films, music, similar food and more cultural similarities. With Europe, we share the socialized healthcare and benefits system, a more liberal political climate, far lower religious observance and similar colonial history.

I'd rather work with the Commonwealth than Europe, though. Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria are all strong and growing economies, and we should be dealing more with them.

[mastanda]

Britain already dances to AMericas tunes, proper little lapdog like, so in the Military sense it already is part fo America, America say jump, Britain says yes master how high?

[callum9999]

(Original post by Ghost6)
It is what makes it a free country. The people can't have power as long as weapons are only in the hands of the government. You can't invade a country where in each neighborhood there are dozens of armed citizens who will gun down anyone who claims their land.

What utter rubbish. You may be able to dupe paranoid Americans with that but it won't hold any weight in the UK...

There is no correlation between gun ownership and the amount of freedom a country has. The differences in freedom between the UK and US for example is negligible.

Nor is the US at risk of being invaded... (and no, the reasoning behind that has nothing to do with people being armed. Even a billion Joe Bloggs' with handguns is going to be no match to an army capable of defeating the US armed forces...).

[callum9999]

(Original post by mastanda)
Britain already dances to AMericas tunes, proper little lapdog like, so in the Military sense it already is part fo America, America say jump, Britain says yes master how high?

That has to be the most moronic reasoning I've seen so far (I assume you are intoxicated ... America dances to British tunes as well. In fact, most of the West dances to music in the English language, that doesn't remotely make them lapdogs of the US/UK/Canada/Australia etc...

And that's without going into your belief that the military is connected to pop music...

[Veni Vidi Fugi]

(Original post by callum9999)
That has to be the most moronic reasoning I've seen so far (I assume you are intoxicated ... America dances to British tunes as well. In fact, most of the West dances to music in the English language, that doesn't remotely make them lapdogs of the US/UK/Canada/Australia etc...

And that's without going into your belief that the military is connected to pop music...

I fear that you've forgotten that 'to dance to someone's tune' is an idiom meaning 'be controlled by'.

[Copperknickers]

I would rather die than see Britain fall into the hands of America. It's nothing personal against America, just to be conquered by our own colony is too much shame to bear.

[Xæthon]

(Original post by Copperknickers)
I would rather die than see Britain fall into the hands of America. It's nothing personal against America, just to be conquered by our own colony is too much shame to bear.

Look at our distance to the US, then look at our distance from the rest of Europe, which do you think is more likely to have close relationships with? The one where it takes no time to get to France compared to mainland US is a big difference, and *shock*, you can already see it in effect by being a member of the EU as *gasp*, you guessed it, we're a part of Europe (the continent).

Don't go and say about Australia and Canada, how even with their distance they were ruled by us as that was different, that was an empire, not one single country.

[ncsoftlover]

Hey why don't you join Canada.
A far superior nation in any way imaginable. ( I mean compared to the land of incarceration of course, not UK)

[Copperknickers]

(Original post by Xæthon)
Look at our distance to the US, then look at our distance from the rest of Europe, which do you think is more likely to have close relationships with?

I think you quoted the wrong person. I said I didn't want the UK to become part of the USA, as is the premise of this thread. I didn't express any comment on the likelihood of this happening, which is of course negligible. Although I think you'll find that the UK has a closer relationship with the US than with, for example, Norway, not including the economy, and Norway is about 100 miles from the UK. In fact the Shetland islands are closer to Bergen than Edinburgh, let alone England.

The one where it takes no time to get to France compared to mainland US is a big difference, and *shock*, you can already see it in effect by being a member of the EU as *gasp*, you guessed it, we're a part of Europe (the continent).

Actually I am about midway between North America and Mainland Europe seeing as I live on the west coast of Scotland.

http://howmanyarethere.net/wp-conten...Continents.jpg

And we are in the EU now, but perhaps not for much longer. Since once we become independent we'll probably have to reapply.

Don't go and say about Australia and Canada, how even with their distance they were ruled by us as that was different, that was an empire, not one single country.

Again, I think you quoted the wrong person. There is no chance whatsoever of the UK becoming part of the US, or I wouldn't have said I'd rather die than see it happen. I don't really want to die just yet :P

[DynamicSyngery]

(Original post by insignificant)
I know, a completely ridiculously hypothetical question. But if/when we have a referendum on the EU and if/when the nation voted to be out of the EU, do you think people would rather we became a part of America? In terms of distance away from America, we aren't so far away from mainland America as Hawaii is away from America.

I don't understand the choice. If we left the EU we would just be an independent country; implication it would lead to being absorbed by some other, presumptively worse foreign power is a dishonest attempt to make the EU seem unescapable.

However if it is a choice between one or the other, US is preferable. It has better protection of individual freedoms and a higher standard of living.

[f1mad]

(Original post by Copperknickers)
I would rather die than see Britain fall into the hands of America. It's nothing personal against America, just to be conquered by our own colony is too much shame to bear.

[Xæthon]

(Original post by Copperknickers)
I think you quoted the wrong person. I said I didn't want the UK to become part of the USA, as is the premise of this thread. I didn't express any comment on the likelihood of this happening, which is of course negligible. Although I think you'll find that the UK has a closer relationship with the US than with, for example, Norway, not including the economy, and Norway is about 100 miles from the UK. In fact the Shetland islands are closer to Bergen than Edinburgh, let alone England.



Actually I am about midway between North America and Mainland Europe seeing as I live on the west coast of Scotland.

http://howmanyarethere.net/wp-conten...Continents.jpg

And we are in the EU now, but perhaps not for much longer. Since once we become independent we'll probably have to reapply.



Again, I think you quoted the wrong person. There is no chance whatsoever of the UK becoming part of the US, or I wouldn't have said I'd rather die than see it happen. I don't really want to die just yet :P

Oh my, I did, I'm sorry about that. Will sort it out in a minute as I'm busy.

Edit: I can't seem to find the post I was intended to reply to....oh well....

[Psyk]

(Original post by Xæthon)
Look at our distance to the US, then look at our distance from the rest of Europe, which do you think is more likely to have close relationships with? The one where it takes no time to get to France compared to mainland US is a big difference, and *shock*, you can already see it in effect by being a member of the EU as *gasp*, you guessed it, we're a part of Europe (the continent).

To be fair though, part of France is actually in South America.

[DynamicSyngery]

(Original post by Xæthon)
Look at our distance to the US, then look at our distance from the rest of Europe, which do you think is more likely to have close relationships with? The one where it takes no time to get to France compared to mainland US is a big difference, and *shock*, you can already see it in effect by being a member of the EU as *gasp*, you guessed it, we're a part of Europe (the continent).

Don't go and say about Australia and Canada, how even with their distance they were ruled by us as that was different, that was an empire, not one single country.

This makes no sense at all. Geographical proximity is totally irrelevant at a time when you can circle the world in a day. In 1800 it took longer to get to Newcastle from London than it does to get to America now.

[Arbolus]

(Original post by DynamicSyngery)
This makes no sense at all. Geographical proximity is totally irrelevant at a time when you can circle the world in a day. In 1800 it took longer to get to Newcastle from London than it does to get to America now.

It makes perfect sense. Travel may not take very long any more, but it's still expensive - when a flight to New York costs ten times as much as a flight to Paris is it any surprise that most people have visited France far more often than they have America? And don't forget that not everything can go on a plane - freight containers need to be transported by ship, which increases the Atlantic crossing to days or weeks. That's why nearly all of our imported cars are built in Europe, even if the company itself is American or Japanese.

[DynamicSyngery]

(Original post by Arbolus)
It makes perfect sense. Travel may not take very long any more, but it's still expensive - when a flight to New York costs ten times as much as a flight to Paris is it any surprise that most people have visited France far more often than they have America? And don't forget that not everything can go on a plane - freight containers need to be transported by ship, which increases the Atlantic crossing to days or weeks. That's why nearly all of our imported cars are built in Europe, even if the company itself is American or Japanese.

Because cars are a time sensitive product, or what? Britain is a net exporter of cars anyway.

Question of which foreign country we should allow ourselves to be annexed by - granting this isn't a false dilemma - is about which institutions we prefer. Where it is geographically is right at the bottom of the list of concerns.

[Arbolus]

(Original post by DynamicSyngery)
Because cars are a time sensitive product, or what? Britain is a net exporter of cars anyway.

Question of which foreign country we should allow ourselves to be annexed by - granting this isn't a false dilemma - is about which institutions we prefer. Where it is geographically is right at the bottom of the list of concerns.

My point is that trading with America takes longer than trading in Europe. If you order something online from an American company then it may take weeks to arrive - and that's ignoring the fact that many companies won't send it outside of North America because of the shipping costs, which aren't going to change no matter what trade agreements we have. It may not matter much for large corporations doing deals worth millions of dollars, but small businesses often can't afford to maintain that sort of contact with the other side of the Atlantic.

Believe it or not, geography is still by far the most important factor for many individuals. Institutions can be adapted - if ever we were to join the US then we'd still have considerable autonomy, and they could pass a constitutional amendment to allow us to keep the monarchy. But precisely what political system we're ruled by makes little or no difference to the vast majority of people, and for that reason it shouldn't be considered a priority to be considered.

[dattru]

Nope, that would be extremely unlikely..