At 15:30 -0700 02/01/24, Jim Elwell wrote: >Obviously my first email on this topic was not clear. I do NOT have >a problem with the Euro per se. However, I do not think the method >by which it was imposed is a good model for metrication the USA.
Why, Jim ? The Euro has not been imposed on Europeans. They have freely chosen it. Directly, in countries where the Maastricht treaty was submitted to a referendum, or through parliamentary process. If you don't accept that, you refuse democracy, which I can't believe (even if somebody said that "democracy is such an important matter that it cannot be left to population" - of course, a nasty joke). Beyond the democratic decision, the method you refer to was education - some people could say propaganda, but basically it was education. Demonstrating that it was not so difficult, and that it was a real symbol of European integration. By the way, how was the dollar "imposed" on Americans ? Coming back to metrication in the USA I do believe that all aspects of the Euro introduction could be used for introducing SI in the USA. Including the legislative aspects, once population has been well prepared by a communications campaign. In my book due to be published in a couple of weeks, I draw a number of parallel actions between Euro introduction and metrication of various countries. Louis
