Answers to Your Questions about Brexit, the Vote and the Fallout
A Primer on Brexit
Last week was just a bit eventful, what with the Brexit vote. What? The. . . what? Brexit. This was a vote in the United Kingdom whether to leave the European Union or to stay. The votes to “leave” slightly outstripped the votes to “stay.” Now, many of those who voted “yes” (leave) on Brexit are experiencing voter’s remorse.
But, how does that affect us here in the U.S.? Did you watch the morning news shows on Friday morning? Do you remember the stock market responding to the news that the U.K. voted to leave the EU? Stocks tumbled and now, the British pound sterling is plummeting. This does have an effect on you. If you’ve kept up with political news, a certain Republican presumptive nominee applauded the vote, saying that Britain had taken back its independence. This is frightening, given his rants against minorities of all stripes. Even more, it turns out that many of those who did vote “yes” hadn’t done their due research before the referendum was held.
Let’s Look at the Parallels
Before the referendum was held, the publicity all centered on the supposed benefits of leaving the EU—money that was supposedly being paid to the EU would now go to shore up the National Health Service; immigration into the country would come to a swift halt; communities in the northern part of England would see job opportunities return.
This sounds very much like what Donald Drumpf says he supports during his raucous rallies. He wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, forcing Mexico to pay for it. He wants to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.
Nigel Farage appears to be Drumpf’s British counterpart. He pointed out a billboard that depicts thousands of dark-skinned refugees hoping for entry to the U.K.
What the Orange-Skinned Nominee Says
Surely you remember the news accounts of Drumpf trumpeting (sorry, couldn’t resist) the brilliance of the U.K. “taking their country back, just like we will take America back.” (emphasis mine) Except. . . except, Scotland voted to stay in the EU.
Drumpf also posted a statement to Facebook, in which he said,
The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries — and our two peoples — are united together, as they will be under a Drumpf administration. Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence day. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people.
Hmmm, sounds presidential. Too bad it’s code talk for nationalism and racism.
Drumpf, Nigel Farange and Boris Johnson
We all know what Drumpf stands for. He’s spouted it all in repeated Twitter rants. What does Farage stand for? Farage leads the United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP. Like Drumpf, Farage has tapped into the anger felt by many who feel left behind.
Now, compare Drumpf to Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London. Johnson is projected to become the next Prime Minister of the U.K. He, too, backed Brexit. Notably, Johnson brought up President Barack Obama’s Kenyan heritage in 2009 when he slammed Obama’s decision to move a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office: “. . . some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire.”
Brexit Equals Populism?
Before connecting Brexit to populism, it helps to know what populism is first. This is the belief, spread through politics, that the “good people” of a country are being treated badly by those who are richer or more powerful than those “good people.” This belief goes further by saying that the elites are violating the rights and values of others.
Look at what people in the UK were told about their country leaving the EU: “We’ll be able to control immigration in our own way. Also, look at who voted for the UK to leave the EU: Older (white) citizens, which will be covered in more detail in the next section.
In voting to “leave,” those citizens of the UK also demonstrated that they reject the elite of the EU (there's that “global elite”). These are the representatives of countries in the EU who run this union of countries. Also being rejected are politicians in Washington, D.C.
Who Voted to “Leave” the European Union
While we won’t know exactly how each person voted in this referendum (secret ballot), we can determine that those with higher educations were more likely to vote to remain in the EU while those with less education voted to leave. Older voters, as well as those who live in the north side of the country also voted to leave. Finally, members of cities with large immigrant populations were also more likely to vote to stay.
A Review of the EU Brexit Referendum
The question was: Do we stay in the EU or do we leave? Over 70 percent of eligible voters participated in this vote, which resulted in “leave” getting over 52 percent of the vote and “remain” took a little more than 48 percent of the vote.
Voters in larger, more densely populated areas were more likely to vote to stay in the EU while those in the center, west, east and north part of the UK were more likely to vote to leave. Scotland and Northern Ireland also voted to remain; these areas are studying the possibility of becoming independent of the UK so they can remain in the EU.
Voter’s Regret?
“Many” Britons who voted to leave are now regretting their voting choice, regardless of why they chose to vote “leave.” For the majority of these people, they are now examining just what led them to cast their votes as they did.
Some felt that leaving the EU would help their country’s economy; others didn’t think their vote to “leave” would put them in the majority; one man said he had “no real reason” to vote as he did. A petition seeking a re-do of the Brexit referendum reached the required 100,000 signatures needed for debate in Parliament. This petition says that the vote didn’t reach the required 60 percent majority and 75 percent turnout threshold.
No, More Like Total Ignorance of the Implications of a “Leave” Vote
People all around the world were gobsmacked at the news that those who voted to leave the EU didn’t understand what Brexit was or what its implications could be.
Google searches asking “what is Brexit,” “what is the EU referendum,” “what happens if we leave the EU” and “who can vote in the EU referendum,” show that those who voted had not sufficiently educated themselves before going to voting stations.
While financial experts and government officials warned UK citizens of the consequences of a “leave” vote, it has since become clear that people didn’t listen; in fact, they labeled the warnings as “scaremongering.”
It is going to take years to understand the implications of this vote. Maybe in the future, voters will educate themselves before referendum/voting day.