On the night of June 23, world stock markets crashed, the value of the pound plummeted, the Prime Minister of the UK resigned, young Brits mourned, and entire countries debated their standing economically and politically in the EU. The UK’s choice to leave the EU passed with 52 percent approval, with many of the “Leavers” now regretting their vote only days later, or admitting that they did not adequately research what leaving the EU would actually entail. But both sides are to blame, with some sources saying the turnout for “Remainers” was way lower than expected. Overall, Brexit has been any democracy’s nightmare — a decision with monumental worldwide consequences that was not taken seriously by those eligible to vote.
Who voted to leave? The answer casts an eerie reflection on America’s political divides and the current Presidential campaign. The population sample that was most likely to vote to leave were citizens over the age of 64 and rural dwellers. The Remainers were mostly city dwellers, those aged 18-24, and concentrated in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Leaving the EU will result in more travel difficulties — hurting working people and the young population, who often travel for school or to explore Europe before settling down. Brexit may also leave the UK in a recession or depression, as investors pull their money from British companies and projects out of fear of its unknown future. Again, this would hurt those currently employed or job-hunting after college and high school. Reminder: most people aged 64+ years don’t work or attend school.
In his article, Jake Flanigan compares Trump support and Brexiters — “both are built on a bedrock of white, working-class angst; anti-immigrant paranoia, economic protectionism, and queasy ultra-nationalism.” Outcries of “angry white men are destroying Europe”, and “people who won’t even live to see Brexit become realized are screwing over the younger generations” are exploding over the internet, and scream of the anti-Trump campaign. Simultaneously, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is being compared to the Remainers: “She has built a coalition of key demographics — women, ethnic minorities, and the college-educated — that make up a pretty strong firewall against a Trump victory. But then again, it appears many Britons couldn’t conceive of a Brexit in the same way many Americans can’t conceive of a Trump presidency.”
So who or what is truly to blame for Brexit? Was it naïve for the Parliament to leave such an important decision to the “common people” and not economic experts and seasoned politicians? Or did the population of the UK simply let itself down? In America, public referendums are rare — in fact, a surprisingly large amount of our “history-making” legislation is decided by the Supreme Court in their rulings, not bills passed through Congress. Sadly, the US is losing interest and trust in federal legislators, and it can feel like someone has to get sued before any real change happens in America. Part of this is blamed on “vast majority” rules, where bills have to achieve a certain percentage of votes (not just 51 percent) to pass in Congress. Coupled with the “my way or no way” anti-cooperation attitude that our two-party system fosters, this policy often ends with most proposed bills in the trash and no compromise.
Americans live in a Republic, where we are supposed to elect and trust others to make our laws for us for convenience and practical purposes, for better or for worse. Right now I can say with confidence that all Americans would jump on the chance to vote for common sense gun legislation in a public referendum. But if the idea of public referendums for important legislation had a chance in America, the Brexit disaster may have crushed it.
