“Song of the blizzard 1888 ‘ Thirteen were saved’

This article examines and attempts to explain public scepticism surrounding the European Union (coined Euroskepticism). Since 1990, there has been an increasing move to make European Union decision making more democratic with increased oversight of national parliaments, greater powers for the European Parliament, majority voting within the Council, and an increase in EU referendums. This has sought to bring to an end to an era where European elites bargained treaties in the shadow of an apathetic and generally approving public. Hooghe seeks to understand what drives European Union decision making in the modern era, as well as Euroskepticism. This move was embodied in the rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty in 2005, forcing a rethink of the permissive consensus that the people in charge of the European Union were above accountability. To this day, the matter of European integration has been strictly labelled as a contentious issue. Hooghe begins his examination by establishing two, diametrically opposed theories of European Union politics. One theory is a bottom up view of preference formation. In this argument, voter’s preferences provide a structure of incentives for party position in the context of electoral competition. Whichever party can best capitalise on voter preferences will be better situated to acquire political power. In the context of the European Union, policy makers must gauge the public mood on European integration and make decisions from that. Another theory is the top down approach, whereby political parties cue and directly influence the opinions and decisions of the public. Political parties, according to this theory, hold the ideological maps to help navigate highly technical and multi-faceted issues (such as those facing European integration). The public can rarely grasp the complexities of these issues, and thus look to political parties for guidance. Hooghe, in his analysis, agrees with the bottom up approach to explain Euroskepticism. Euroskepticism, then, is best understood as a rational response by citizens (and thus political parties) for whom centralized European Union power is a threat to their own personal interests, not as a result of dissent o

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The Great Blizzard of 1888, also known as “the Schoolhouse Blizzard” was one of the deadliest in American history. The death toll was much higher than would normally be expected for a blizzard due to several factors that day. According to David Laskin’s Portrait of America, the main culprit was an unexpected change in temperature and wind direction (44). During this time period, weather predictions were not as accurate as they are today so when temperatures suddenly dropped by about 50 degrees within two hours on January 12th, many people were unprepared for what followed (Laskin 41). Additionally, winds shifted from the southwest to northwest which caused snow drifts to form quickly burying homesteaders who weren’t able to outrun them (45). Another factor that increased the death toll was a lack of communication between states due to primitive technology (46). For example, Nebraska sent warnings via telegraph but because South Dakota's lines had been destroyed by a previous storm they did not receive them until it was too late (46). Furthermore, trains and postal services shut down making it impossible for people in remote areas such as Wyoming and Montana to receive news at all (47). This allowed the blizzard conditions to travel unchecked across thousands of miles and catch unsuspecting communities off-guard. Additionally, this blizzard posed particular dangers because it occurred during winter thawing season when farmers from all over traveled through rural roads with their wagons full of supplies or animals destined for sale markets in larger townships (43). These travelers were particularly vulnerable since exposure could cause frostbite within minutes even if wearing multiple layers of clothing or blankets and some even froze before being able help themselves into shelter or heat sources like fires or homes nearby(48-49) . Overall, these various factors are what made the death toll from The Great Blizzard much higher than is expected from any standard blizzard event. Primitive technologies lacked effective communication abilities while sudden changes in temperature created deadly landscapes that left unprepared travelers especially vulnerable. It is through tragic events such as these we learn how invaluable modern advances have become in providing better warning times so we can be prepared when similar disasters may strike again.