Sunday 26 June 2016
Shields and Brooks on voter disenchantment across the globe
It seems to me that the vote for Brexit was not just a vote against the EU, it
was a vote against the modern world. Similarly, a large portion
of the vote for Trump is a vote against the modern world.
Sadly, for those voters, the modern world is not going away. With Brexit, most
of the things the people voted against (immigration, the threat of terrorism, a
weak economy, a jobless recovery, weak social mobility, inequality of wealth
and power, and governments - at whatever level - interfering in their daily
lives) will continue unchanged or will worsen. Ditto for Mr Trump.
Many of these votes come
from people who feel desperate and do not know what else they can to do. They
are willing to suffer pain and compromise on some principles for the hope of
stopping these tides from their inevitable rise. Thus some cosmopolitans
were willing to close an eye to the xenophobia of Farage and his ilk, even
though they were aware that EU migrants are a significant net benefit to our
economy and culture and they personally oppose discrimination on the basis of
ethnic origin. Some economically literate were willing to see a currency
and market fall: it was not that they did not believe the experts who predicted
this, it was simply a price they were willing to pay.
Equally sadly, the things
that many are voting for (freedom, independence, democracy, a greater voice in
how society is organised) will not improve, whether under Brexit or
Trump.
Many Brexit and Trump voters
are just tired of being told what to do by uncaring incompetents while things,
in their view, go downhill. Many, whether knowingly or not, are rebelling
against the elite, as described by Gaetano Mosca and Elmer
Schattschneider. It may seem ironic or paradoxical that these
rebels follow a member of the elite (Boris Johnson or Donald Trump) but that is
merely per force: they have little else to choose and they are not ready for
revolution.
I am opposed too Neverendums. Instead, let's revise the idea of the Hanseatic League, with London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Leicester and Newcastle uniting to do a Leave on the UK.
Good! We need a new Scexit Referendum now!
We are tired of subsidizing them and can't be rid of these drains on the exchequer soon enough.
# posted by Had It in Holland Park @ 02:21 
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