[gjm11]

National governments do crazy stuff like this constantly too. They also do useful things. So does the EU. The case (or at least this case) against the EU is pretty much the same as the case against all governments.

The right question isn't "does this organization do crazy things?" but "do the good things outweigh the bad, or the other way around?".

The other thing is that I think a lot of the "EU does crazy things" narrative is deliberately, and dishonestly, pushed by people who are more interested in making the EU look bad than in the truth. (I am not suggesting that sarcasmOrTears is such a person: only that their perception of what the EU does may have been affected by the long-running Make The EU Look Bad campaign.)

[jtbayly]

But your own government answers to you.

That’s what the Magna Carta was about. Also the US revolution.

[gjm11]

So does the EU. MEPs are elected just as democratically as MPs (in the UK), Representatives/Senators (in the US), etc.

Magna Carta was about the balance of power between the king and the barons; commoners' interests come into it only incidentally.

The American Revolution is a slightly better case, but note that its "No taxation without representation!" battle-cry wouldn't be any sort of case against the EU because (1) everyone in EU countries does have respresentation, and (2) while for some countries EU membership is a net cost (at least if you ignore the benefits of free trade, free movement, etc.) that cost is a tiny fraction of those countries' total revenue base; e.g., the UK's net contribution is about £8B/year, which is a little over 1% of total UK taxes.

[jtbayly]

Precisely. The balance of power is crazy.