“Get Brexit done.”
That was part of a strong message Britain’s
voters delivered to their would-be masters—both at home and across The
Channel—with the recent landslide
election of Boris Johnson and conservatives in general. It remains for
Prime Minister Johnson, who campaigned on that exact message, to follow through
on his promise.
The larger message England’s
electorate sent via the Conservative landslide was: “We are tired of the
effeminate, coastal and big-city elites in foreign capitals telling us what to
do and how to think. We are tired of being lorded over by people who think they
know better—and are better—than us.
We don’t wish to send our money to Brussels to be redistributed to various
other member states of the E.U. as its bureaucrats see fit. We don’t like the
fact that any citizen of an E.U member state can relocate and seek work here
without even needing a work visa, and that non-U.K. citizens can come here and
take advantage of our National Health Service and welfare programs. And we sure
as hell don’t like that the dandies in Brussels can tell us how powerful our
vacuum cleaners can be and dictate the curvature
of our bananas.”
Borders, language and culture
matter. As does history. England’s borders are…the ocean. Always an island unto
herself, she has been near, but not truly of, Europe. It is time that England
regained some of her old confidence, if not arrogance. Johnson in some ways is
Trump’s “Mini-Me.” (He is 5’, 9” while Trump is 6’, 4”). Perhaps he can help
Make England Great Again. Unfortunately, neither Trump nor Johnson are fiscal
conservatives, but they are far better on a wide range of other policy issues
than those from other parties against which they ran. Perhaps Johnson can
re-invigorate Britain’s economy as Trump did America’s. Perhaps both leaders
can restore their respective nation’s sense of self and worthiness.
Ironically, British voters’ disdain
of edicts and mandates from Brussels is akin to the colonists’ abhorrence of
King George III imposing taxation without representation on them-- and
subsequently the Intolerable Acts. After years of delays, bickering and chaos,
the majority of British voters found the status quo intolerable.
243 years after the United States
declared independence from England, England has declared independence from the
European Union. Let freedom ring.
Somewhere, in broad sunlit uplands,
Churchill smiles. And flashes a “V” for victory sign once more.
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