The Brexit Vote and Self-Rule: The Left Goes Unhinged
By Richard Moss, MD
In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, the referendum in Britain to Leave or Remain in the European Union, proponents of the Leave movement won, 52-48%, and a blow for freedom was struck. In a time when the left is ascendant, this was a call for national sovereignty and self-rule. It was also a stunning rebuke of the “progressive†vision for global government. But the battle for liberty is far from over for Britain. It will take a couple of years to disentangle themselves from the web of regulations, taxes, and demands imposed by the European Commission in Brussels. Furthermore, even should that separation be successfully navigated, the UK remains a heavily socialized state. While liberation from the tentacles of Brussels is a good first step, the more difficult battle will be in London. Whether there is appetite for that even greater battle for liberty and smaller government remains to be seen.
For a time, the EU was seen as an emerging superpower whose dominance would rival that of the US. The euro was to be the next global currency. Europe was to become a major diplomatic force. Instead, Britain is fleeing the EU and the euro-zone is a debacle. Economic growth is stagnant. Unemployment is high.
European nations are collapsing under the pressure of debt, damaging monetary policies, overregulation, taxes, and the onslaught of waves of emigration from the wreckage of the Arab world and beyond.
The Euro-zone has been steeped in crisis since 2009. But what would one expect when countries like Germany and Greece and the other nations of southern Europe share a currency but do not share fiscal practices and restraints, culture and work ethic? All of this was minimized because the transnational vision held by the bureaucrats running the EU transcended such dated notions. Nations and their unique culture, identity, history, and language were relics from a bygone era, an archaic construct to be discarded and replaced by the new global model. Furthermore, the left prefers to control people not through the democratic processes of nation states, which can be messy, but through vast centralized unelected bureaucracies like the EU. Ultimately, the entire world would be governed by the United Nations or some version of it. The nation state, for the left, is a barrier to the “ideal†of global government.
But the vision of a borderless world bereft of national identity is a fatal conceit of the transnational/left. The reality is that most people value their national identity, culture, language, and religion. It is part of their inheritance, a form of national expression that many take pride in and appreciate. It is no different than the desire of African, Asian, Latin American or Muslim cultures to preserve their heritage, which, of course, the left will defend to the death. So long as it is not European or “Western†culture, which they abhor. But the “masses†reject utopian pipedreams and policies that import millions of people into their countries who share little with them, change their demographics and cultures, and dramatically increase costs and social strife. It is not “racist†or bigoted to feel this way as the left reflexively accuses. It is natural and sound. For most citizens, the nation state is also the indispensable mechanism for democratic accountability and practice, however flawed it may be. They also don’t care for sclerotic economies and high unemployment caused by policies imposed by Brussels.
Youth unemployment in Greece and elsewhere stands at 25-50% devastating a generation. Greece should have been forced from the euro-zone, to return to its own currency, to devalue it, increase exports, and work its way out of recession in regular fashion. But that was not permitted because others would have followed.
Then there was the security disaster on top of the economic failure, the disastrous handling of the great migration crisis. The European commission and German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the doors to anyone from the third world. In 2015, 1.5 million migrants entered Germany or about 2% of the population with whole communities and towns transformed overnight. The transnational/left sneers at the role of culture and tradition in the life of Western societies. They are compulsively anti-Western and anti-Christian and seek to replace their societies with others they can more readily control. The people resent this bitterly.
The reaction of the left, our cultural betters, over the result of the Brexit vote was, Â “classic, bigoted, brain-free liberalism. Â From the radicals in the media, government, academia, and elsewhere it meant only one thing: Hate. Or racism, or xenophobia, or intolerance, or nativism, or Islamophobia. No other reason explained the vote for our friends on the left, other than blind hatred. The response is simple. They are the bigots. They hate their own country, their national identity, their culture, religion, and history. They despise the white working class whom they seek to replace. In other words, they are Anglophobes, Christophobes, and anti-white racists.
Beyond the obvious failures of the EU, the tepid economic growth, the failed monetary policies, and the disastrous immigration crisis, the critical issue was national sovereignty and self-rule. The British exit vote, not unlike our own American Revolution, resolved for self-rule. For the British, it was their own popularly elected parliament over bureaucrats in Brussels. For us, it was our colonial legislatures over the British monarchy. In both cases, it was a fear of arbitrary despotic power in the hands of a remote governing authority that lacked accountability. The Brexit vote was a stirring defense of self-government, a rare and precious thing to be jealously guarded.
July-2016
Brief Bio: Richard Moss MD is a practicing Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon, author, and columnist who resides in Jasper IN. He recently lost his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in Indiana’s 8th district. Find more of his essays and blog posts at exodusmd.com. Also find him on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
By Richard Moss, MD
Brief Bio: Richard Moss MD is a practicing Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon, author, and columnist who resides in Jasper IN. He recently lost his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in Indiana’s 8th district. Find more of his essays and blog posts at exodusmd.com. Also find him on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
