Friday, December 20, 2019

British Voters Say "Get Brexit Done"


“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.


No comments:

Post a Comment