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Comment by kennywinker | Hacker News Reader

I believe as part of the Good Friday agreement, england has committed to permitting irish unification if a majority supports it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Agreement

Now, would they find a way to contest any vote to unify? Maybe

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Just a simple majority? I hope that the Brexit disaster has shown that it is essential such decisions have a supermajority backing.

> I hope that the Brexit disaster has shown that it is essential such decisions have a supermajority backing.

LMAO! That's a great freaking point! Obviously, simple majorities are perfect recipes for the shitshow they're currently in.

are you really comparing reunification of ireland with brexit?

Yes. Why not?

Oh that's a really good point, that might be the logic they use to try to deny the Irish people their independence.

Or it might avoid a disastrous reversion to the violence of the Troubles.

There seems to be this American view that the U.K. wants NI. Nobody wants NI, it’s just that any change from the Good Friday status quo is a disaster for one side or another, both of whom have used violence for their cause.

Democracy is shit when 40% of your country have major everlasting change thrust upon them against their will.

Huh? No assumption was made in my statement about what the UK wants or doesn’t want. Just that a significant, irreversible change from the status quo should probably require a supermajority vote. This prevents outcomes like Brexit where you get a deeply divided nation, or issues related to voter turnout causing an actual minority side to win.

I think we’re saying the same thing.

What’s important is that no matter if it’s 52:48 or 92:8, the losing side don’t lose everything. In the case of NI leaving the U.K., all NI citizens who want to should be able to retain their U.K. citizenship, in the case of the U.K. leaving the EU the same should have applied, and the same with Scotland, Catalonia, Texas etc.

I would be no happier with brexit had the result been 80:20 to leave, but if the 20% could have retained their EU citizenship it would have made things far more palatable.

I don't think being a simple majority was the issue with brexit, it was the fact people were voting on a vague question with no clear outcome.

Politicians were promising a brexit that could never happen.

Why would we want to?

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