Brexit vote proved UK citizens are more stupid than Americans. SJ Dodgson MJoTA 2016 v10n1p0626
The
statement that voting to leave the European Union proves that UK
citizens are more stupid than Americans came from an Australian
commentator, Richard O'Brien. A lot of statements have been published
since Jun 24, 2016 04:00am GMT when the results of the UK referendum was
called for Brexit.
I
read through the arguments about leaving, Brexit, or staying, Remain,
and was most convinced by the Guardian video I posted below earlier in
June, and published an essay about why remaining was a good idea. You
can read it below.
Unfortunately,
the nature of who I am and what I write about is likely only to be seen
and read by highly educated folks, and they were not the folks who
voted for Brexit.
Folks
in the north of England, which was once highly industrialized and
humming, they voted to leave the EU, they voted for Brexit. These folks
feel disenfranchised and left out of the honey pot that overflows in
London where living quarters would cost them the wages of several
lifetimes. For once in their life, these folks were given a chance to do
more than press their noses against glass, they were given at a whack
at a ball, and decided that all their misery was due to Europe. Because
England, with its long history of hanging, transporting, colonizing,
clapping into military service as many poor as possible, England could
not be the cause of their lack of opportunity, their discontent. It had
to be the foreigners.
I
have difficulty believing that all those geniuses who went to wonderful
universities could not make a convincing argument to convince the angry Brexit voters that Remain was in their best interest.
What
hit me forcefully is that altering rules, regulations, jobs, alliances
could be subject to a 50:50 vote. In the US we require a majority of
60%, maybe more, for every region, to change the constitution. And this
referendum was equivalent to that.
I had
forgotten how stupid most people are; willing to opt for the easier
solution because it takes less energy. Biting off your nose to spite
your face. My Dodgson ancestors who were foundations of the London
financial system and hence railways, they are twirling in their graves.
And they all spoke German and French.
But
did the majority of voters really vote to leave the EU? From reports
from voters in the UK, parts of London were flooded and
public transport was shut down. Which suggests that horrible weather
related to climate change affected the election, and no allowances were
made for voters being unable to vote.
But indeed is all lost? Is the UK splitting off from the EU (European Union) inevitable? Perhaps not.
On
Friday Jun 24 2016 a petition was started for a debate in UK parliament
over the referendum results. The petition calls for a second referendum
on the grounds that under 75% of the electorate voted, and of these, under 60% voted for Brexit.
Another
possible rescue could be from the UK parliament. To leave the EU, an
act has to be passed in parliament that triggers the Lisbon Treaty
Article 50, at which time the clock starts ticking and the would-be
exiter has exactly 2 years to exit.
The
problem with this is first, that both sides of the aisle did not want
to leave the EU, and members of parliament supporting Brexit may be too
few to pass an act. Second, senior leadership in both
the governing Conservative Party and the Opposition Labor Party have
both collapsed in the wake of the referendum.
I
am hoping that indeed this whole business ends up not in severing ties
with the European Union, but as a midsummer nightmare. A really bad
scare that makes everyone try harder. Because 71 years without Germany
trying to kill my relatives is a really good innings. I want them
working together, making up rules. Not machine gunning down each other.
