A lot of people in Europe and the UK will be utterly miserable about the vote yesterday. And with right – this was a particularly self-defeating choice for the Brits, and the whole UK will suffer far worse than the Brits now take for granted by being severed from a common European market. But most of all parliamentarians on all sides, bankers, investors, big business will be positively irate with the prospect of having to dismantle a whole infrastructure of free traffic and trade. You can bet your ass that Brits will be facing draconic (punitive) passport checks a few years from now, and that tourism to London will come to a standstill. In elite and government circles it will be sour grapes and petty taunts for a long time.
The young massively voted for staying in the union (but were too bothered to actually go and vote, mostly). The rich voted massively for staying in the union. Scotland and North ireland ditto – so why are the people that voted out? Older people, generally over 50. And people living away from the cities.
For these people pressing the “GetTheHellOut” button may seem intuitive, but it is a bad choice. These people did however suffer the brunt of EU rules, the brunt of decades of austerity, the brunt of globalism and free markets, the brunt of free migration. A certain category of mostly white, mostly lower income and mostly older people voted in favor of leaving. And I am personally convinced a certain degree of racism and a verifiable lower IQ must also be playing a big role here.
That creates uncomfortable reality that the political systems we have world wide are now experiencing a kind of protest vote with “make things great again” sentiments. We see the same with Wilders here in the Netherlands, with the crazy nationalism in France and Hungary – and of course the white trash insurrection of Trump in the US. There are major similarities at play everywhere, and if we look closely we see the same kind of people who fell of the wagon in the last few decades of very fast but very unequal progress. This is most self-evident in the US, where the people that gravitate towards being pro-Trump are also the same people who are prematurely dying of the results of neoliberal policies. It was long overdue for these people to mobilize behind the highly predictable populist rhetoric and lash out. And lashing out is what they do – we clearly see electoral choices that are not in their interest, but should be regarded as sabotage – a vote for Trump, for instance, is a vote for putting a lunatic in the white house that will “with very little doubt” wreck the system.
And that’s what I fear these people want – they rather crash the plane than continue on in the same manner.
We are seeing a lot more of this and if I am halfway correct I am positive we will also see the powers that be start paying very close attention. The era of unconstrained, blind austerity must end. Too long governments have been dumping negative consequences with a mostly passive, silent electorate. But that passive element is passive no more. And unless the politicians get of their ass, the next cycle we’ll see a far more vicious beast making far more destructive choices.
Update
My opinion is evolving – I predict that England (sand northern Ireland and Schotland) will start renegotiations to return in to the EU before 2025. They will literally beg to get back in, this time as full member.
Reference links
* The Brexit Vote Is a New Milestone in the Global War on Elites
* Central banks commit billions handle with Brexit fallout
* ELDERLY AND UNEDUCATED CONSPIRE TO CRIPPLE ECONOMY
* The Brexit crash will make all of you poorer – be warned
* The U.K.’s Old Decided for the Young in the Brexit Vote
* Post-Colonial Brexit Blues
* It’s Time for the Elites to Rise Up Against the Ignorant Masses
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