Time to Say Goodbye

What about those Brits, huh? Yeah, now I mean all those folks that voted to leave the European Union. Given the reaction around the world you would think that WW III has started! Not that I had a real strong opinion one way or the other but I kind of thought they’d vote to stay in if for no other reason than simple inertia; it’s much easier to keep doing what you’ve been doing than it is to change. I guess they were pretty serious about it.

So what does it mean? Damned if I know and people a lot smarter than me don’t know either. Some people think this was a vote for independence and freedom from the tyranny of Big Brother and the EU. Probably something to that. Others put a darker spin on it by emphasizing the anti-immigrant anger and nativism aspect of it and there’s probably truth to that too. Still others point out the similarities of anti-elite and insider anger to that which is going in the US with the Trump and Sanders campaigns. Yup. And there is this: the younger folks – 18-34 - voted overwhelmingly to Remain and the older folks to leave. Sound familiar to the age split in the US? Lot's of moving parts. 

I’m sorry for this but speaking of Trump, the man who would be President did us proud again! Here was a tweet of his:

Just arrived in Scotland. Place is going wild over the vote. They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games!

Apparently he was unaware - or didn't understand - that Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain.

And unfortunately for him, the Scottish really know how write insults.

 @realDonaldTrump if we ever needed any more proof that you're a cockwomble of the highest order! Scotland voted to remain!

Yo @realDonaldTrump, Scotland overwhelmingly voted to remain, you tiny-handed, rotting skunk topped, pickled mandarin

          This one REALLY hurts!

@realDonaldTrump we voted to stay by 24 points. wouldn't expect better from a guy whose only view of Scotland, is from a golf course

Okay, enough o’that (as they say in Ireland - which also voted to remain.)

It’s easy to see how people are frustrated with the EU. It’s a VERY poorly constructed organization; it’s run by people who aren’t elected; it’s highly bureaucratic; they have a common currency but no central control of it like the US; also it’s the ultimate nanny state (in that, it resembles how most of the members are individually.) Then there is the refugee problem - and it is a BIG problem. Finally, ironically, the EU looks a lot the US before our smart guys created the Constitution - with our relatively strong central government.

OTOH, the EU, while far from perfect, represents 28 (okay soon to be 27) countries and over 500 million people with free trade and travel among them all. (Do you remember traveling in Europe before the EU? You had to drag out your passport about every 15 min’s moving among all those little shitbird countries!) Big business likes it (which, depending on your point of view, may or may not be a good thing) because there’s generally one set of business rules for all the countries like in the US.

More importantly, there hasn’t been a war (well, a traditional war) in Europe for over 70 years. This is no small thing since those guys had wars about every decade for the previous thousand years! Does the EU have something to do with that? Couldn’t possibly have hurt and should be worth something, right?

Anyway, in the end, no one knows the real reason – if there is one – for why they voted to leave and that’s okay; it was their right and in the big picture probably won’t matter that much anyway.

Let me close by sharing the thoughts of a guy I follow on lots of issues (usually financial) as it relates to democracy and the vote in the UK. Cullen Roche of “Pragmatic Capitalist” (Highly recommended.)

I want to go off topic here today because the recent Brexit vote exposed the extraordinary failure and danger of democracy.  People in the USA often refer to the USA as a “democracy”. But this is wrong. The Founding Fathers were terrified of democracy. They intentionally designed the United States so that it wasn’t a democracy. Referendums such as the Brexit are a glaring example of how dangerous and flawed the idea of democracy can be. And such a system is a large part of why the USA was formed in the first place.

In the Brexit vote, a minority of 36% of the population (52% of 70% voter turnout) have made a monumentally important decision on behalf of the majority via an unchecked process. Make no mistake – this is not democracy working for the people. This is democracy exposing exactly why it’s such a dangerous system.

Kind of in support of Cullen's point, it’s been reported that Google said searches in the UK for “what is the EU?” and “what happens if UK leaves EU?” jumped over 200%. After the polls closed. Yikes, hell of a time to look for THAT information!

You can agree or disagree with Cullen but it’s food for thought when you think about where the US would be today if we had “democracy” like the EU. 

And don't be a cockwomble!