Gary Younge, editor-at-large for The Guardian presents a laser-sharp analysis of the Brexit zeitgeist and British leadership’s WTF? happens next. All hell’s broken loose. Who’s in charge? Who would want this task? Boris Johnson says, “That person cannot be me.” Understandable. Who wants to receive a big, fat failing grade before the course work even begins?
Without addressing the neoliberalism that’s resulted in a huge gap between the wealthy and the working poor, the never-ending war of terror on The Other, the fear, fear, fear, the pervasive see-something-say something mentality of xenophobia where suspicion and hatred separate us from our own humanity, I’ll scratch only the epidermis—the political panic. Because panicking politicians are suggesting that they could just ignore the referendum and are encouraging “parliament to call another referendum, in order to avert economic catastrophe.” Laughable, when the people again might vote to leave. What then? A third referendum? This reminds me of interrogations. Someone’s asking the same question repeatedly until he or she beats down the interrogatee (underlined in red but staying) and finally receives the incorrect answer he or she wants to hear.
Barrister Geoffrey Robertson says no to another referendum though. His solution is that parliament could vote down the referendum: “Our democracy does not allow, much less require, decision-making by referendum. Democracy has never meant the tyranny of the simple majority . . .”
Take that, you tyrannical voters. Take that, you simpletons.
Continuing the assessment, Younge says, and here’s the irony, that politicians believe the voters didn’t know what they wanted, “or they were too ignorant to make informed choices, or maybe they quite simply wanted the wrong thing.”
Again, take that, you tyrannical simpletons. And there you have it. The voice of the people is meaningless, therefore it is necessary for more evolved human beings—politicians—to redo, reverse, re-whatever to restore and reorder governance. In other words, here’s a big fuck you to a majority too stupid to examine, evaluate, and choose.
Further irony is that the elected in Britain were pleased when that ignorant majority voted them into office. No calls for mutiny then.
We here in the U.S. of America should look and learn. Our voices don’t count either. Nor do our votes. Perhaps we should think about this before entering that location to exercise an activity we’ve been told is sacred after which we’re handed a little flag sticker for our shirts—regrets and disillusionment often within days.
Missy Comley Beattie has written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. She was an instructor of memoirs writing at Johns Hopkins’ Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Baltimore. Email: missybeat@gmail.com.
Gary Younge wrote in his article sighted by the author that;
‘One of the defining illusions of the populist rightwing agenda is that it possesses a unique ability to rally the poor on the basis of race and nation – but even here, it cannot deliver on its own terms.’ He argues that the retreat of BREXIT campaign leaders from the mess they have unleashed signifies this lack of control. It illustrates the power of racism in modern society if politicians dare to use it and they did. The fact that they are unwilling to deal with the fall out relates to the outcome which was largely unstated but linked to other less widely understood aspects of globalization namely the geopolitical strategy involved in supporting the US anti-Russian policy. Involved in that is the idea that Europe will lose out by alienating Russia, in the investment possibilities arsising from the joint Russian and Chinese ideas related to Eurasian integration. The knock on effect from Brexit is an EU led by a Germany which is less anti Russian. That is the result that a section of the Brexit leadership were aiming at but not explicitly. Not explicitly because it would require attacking the USA strategy which it is not willing to do as it would threaten the UK’s relationship with America. So in fact the Brexit leadership do not need to deal with the mess they have created what they want to do is benefit from the new world that will arise from it.
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