Thoughts On Brexit

I will emulate The One, and stick my nose into the middle of the "Brexit" debate.

In June, British voters decide whether the UK should begin the two-year process of getting completely out of the EU--the UK was never completely in the EU. Before, however, I begin to ruminate, let me say that I would love to see a debate between Barack Obama and Nigel Farage on Brexit. Nigel would cook a fine Barackburger before the debate went more than a few minutes. I doubt Obama, a very ignorant man, could or would make much of a case for Britain's staying except for condescending progressive platitudes about EU membership allowing Britain to "punch above its weight." Re Farage, judge for yourselves: go to YouTube and watch him in action at the European Parliament or on stage at home. Unlike most politicians in our sorry times, he has a clarity of vision, a mastery of facts, a quick and cutting wit, and a stunning erudition. You do not want this guy on your case! If only we could declare him a natural born citizen and get him to run for President  . . .

I won't go into the economic arguments over whether it's better or not for Britain to remain in the EU. You can go here for a pretty good and somewhat balanced explanation of the two sides' arguments. Let's put all that aside, however, and generously agree both sides have some valid economic and financial points.

One other little aside: I notice that polling shows the vote "too close to call." You know my view on "too close to call" when there is a progressive supported issue up against real world voters. Almost inevitably--note, almost--that means the progs are heading for a fall. Let us hope that while past performance is not a guarantee of future results, in this case, per the Bard, "what's past is prologue."

At the risk of being reprimanded and corrected by this blog's one or two British readers, I offer that the force driving the pro-Brexit movement is not solely or even mostly about economics, or finance, or currency exchange rates. It is about something much, much more important. It is about reclaiming the soul of Britain; preserving and restoring that which made Britain, notably England, one of the world's greatest countries, a nation of stunning consequence. It is about deciding whether the great British traditions and innovations that have made our modern world are worth saving or should be discarded.

Back in April 2014, I wrote a piece about the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada titled "One More Thing to Blame on England." I noted that in the stand-off between ranchers and arrogant federal bureaucrats, we saw the,

clash between two English traditions or tenets: the first, respect for the "Crown" and the law; the second, a demand for individual liberty. Where those two rub up against each other the resulting friction produces a lot of heat and, at times, even flame. On another April, this one in 1775, we saw those two English principles also come into conflict when Royal troops went into the Massachusetts countryside to retrieve guns and some powder defiantly stored by English farmers. The resulting clash, which began on April 19, 1775, saw the Royal troops retreat in the face of an armed countryside, and served as the spark for the American Revolution. Angry and armed English farmers should not be your enemy of first choice. That Revolution was a continuation of a great theme in the English Civil War, the battle over the nature of the individual's relationship to the Leviathan. The victors in the American Revolution were those Englishmen who held liberty above loyalty to the Crown. 

The cow "war" in the Nevada desert, perhaps, could provide the spark that lights a more widespread resistance to the increasing arrogance and stupidity of those who now operate in the name of our "Crown" . . . this event could well be the watershed in a new struggle to preserve our English liberties. 

Blame it on England. I do.

Our Revolution and Civil War echo with themes from the Magna Carta and the English Civil War, in particular, the nature of the individual's relationship to and with the "Crown." Now in Europe, as if things weren't bad enough for the individual thanks to the overwhelming and intrusive national governments, a huge supranational bureaucracy has been created and installed in Brussels. Every year it seems this Leviathan grows and grows, demanding more and more tribute. It erodes the sovereignty of the nation states of the EU and places ever greater demands on individuals via taxes, decrees and regulations of all sorts that govern the most major aspects of life, e.g., immigration, to the most minor, e.g., the percentage of cocoa in chocolate. This EU/EC bureaucracy is stuffed with extremely well-paid bureaucrats who grow evermore removed from their countries of origin, their national personas absorbed by the European Project body-snatching monster--a system of rule unaccountable to the people over which it presides.

I have had a lot of dealing with the EU and its executive and diplomatic arm, the EC. Not good, not good. Trying to get EU countries to move quickly and decisively on just about anything was an exercise in frustration. Before anything could be decided, the EU members would need to have long and, often, inconclusive meetings. The British found themselves often tied up by the EU and unable to joins us, the Canadians, and the Australians on key actions. I remember an Australian Deputy Head of Mission, muttering about the EU, "They're worthless, worthless, worthless." The British had to be mindful of the French, the Belgians, the Italians, and their resentment for the relationship between the US and the UK. The EC Ambassadors were almost inevitably cartoon characters of pompous Europeans. Often French, a few Germans and Belgians thrown in, EC reps were extremely anti-American and--surprise!--did not like the British all that much either. In fact, in nearly all my dealings with the EU/EC, I found a high degree of anti-British sentiment. They apparently saw the British essentially as Americans with "Upstairs, Downstairs" accents.

As I have noted before, the vision for the EU, apparently, was French politicians, using German money, and relying on British troops as a way of eliminating American influence in Europe. The euro would serve as the amulet that would ward off the evil dollar. It seems that the grand French dream, however, has gone by the wayside as France's economy has imploded, leaving France punching below its weight. Now Merkel sits in the captain's chair--of the Titanic?--apparently dreaming of doing what neither Kaiser nor Fuhrer could, a Germany-dominated region extending from Lisbon to Moscow.

How's that working out, Angela? Didn't quite. The collapse of Greece was just a trailer for the horror movie to follow. The EU is dead or at least mortally wounded. Already staggering from its absurd economic and fiscal policies, the EU was not ready for what came: Islam, the Muslim invasion of the past few years. Germany went mad in a progressive way and opened the floodgates to jihad. The EU has proven totally inept in confronting the Muslim threat, and, in fact, has adopted a sort of Petain/Vichy approach wherein they allow the invaders to occupy unopposed huge swathes of Europe and hope that by babbling on about love, welcome, tolerance, etc., the Muslim crocodile will allow the remainder of Europe to live--at least for a bit. Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, much of Scandinavia have become hotbeds of Islamic jihad, with parts of their cities "no-go" zones.

I think that the British, not known for welcoming invaders, have had enough. Well, those who are still British and appreciate their country and its history. Let us not forget that there was a deliberate Labour policy to alter irreversibly the social composition of Britain so as to make it much less British. As I wrote in May of 2013, Britain underwent,

a leftist attempt to alter radically the nature of British society by encouraging immigration from poor countries and have those immigrants become dependent on and vote for Labour. It appears from documents recently made available that this was a planned effort. The Labour politicians involved in altering Britain's immigration laws deliberately sought to change British society, and knew the country would see a rise in social pathologies such as crime as a result. A visitor to any major British city can testify that Labour's plan has succeeded, social pathologies and all. Some two to three million immigrants from the third world entered the UK in less than ten years. The Labour politicians understood that this radical attempt to alter British society would not have public approval, so they did what leftist politicians do best: lie and label as "racist" anybody opposed to this massive social engineering.

The same people who so strongly support Britain's membership in the EU seem the same who oppose halting the foreign invasion. Now we see the Muslim hordes gathering just across the channel, champing at the bit to get over and enjoy the land of "the white dudes," before they destroy it, to do what Hitler could never.

For me as an outsider, a person with zero British blood, and no family ties to the UK (although I do like British cheese), what's driving the anti-EU movement in Britain is the need to save the country, or what's left of it. Perhaps without the EU and its courts and mandates, British common sense can prevail, and the UK be saved, or at least England--and if the Scots want to stay in the EU, they should have another referendum and swap London's "rule" for that of Brussels, that'll teach 'em.

Those are my thoughts. Don't know if I am right or wrong. I retreat to my bunker.