Keep Calm and Carry On

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a campaign known as Brexit. Problem is, this might lead to a disunited kingdom. Scotland voted 2 to 1 to remain in the E.U. This may be the moment that finally leads to full independence for the Scots. Northern Ireland also voted to remain and it's leadership immediately began voicing concern and suggesting unification with the Republic of Ireland. That suggestion brought a swift no from both the Republic and Downing Street but you never know.

Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned and intends to be gone by October. Cameron had promised to hold the referendum to quiet the fringe of his own party and other conservative forces such as the Ukip Party and it's leader Nigel Farage. Cameron is no doubt regretting that promise.

Many Brits awoke the next morning to the reality of what they had done. British T.V. has been interviewing many people who voted to leave and now regret their vote. They didn't actually think it would happen so they voted leave simply as a protest. So remember America be careful with your protest votes.

A lot of misinformation and straight out lies were spread by the pro Brexit forces. One example is that fellow Nigel Farage who was confronted during a T.V. interview about the exaggerated figures that the U.K. was paying the E.U. every week and that was money that could be going into the National Health Service. Farage said that the people who did that were wrong to do so and that he had nothing to do with it. When pushed he also admitted that of course those funds would not now go to the N.H.S.

Nearly two million U.K. citizens have now signed a petition on a government website calling for a second vote. Under British Law if a petition with at least 300,000 signatures is presented to the government, Parliament must review the petition but they do not have to take any action.

Britain has always had a somewhat tense relationship with the E.U. and they never joined the Eurozone and maintained the Sterling Pound as their currency. What's truly interesting here is the history which some seem to have forgotten. Two bloody catastrophic world wars were fought as the result of European turmoil. It was the conservative and quintessential Englishman Winston Churchill who delivered a speech in Zurich, Switzerland in 1946 calling for a United States of Europe to unify the people's of those countries into a common goal of peace and prosperity. By joining forces and viewing each other equally he believed that another conflict could be avoided, a conflict that he firmly believed would be the end of civilization because of the technology of our weapons. He was right and that speech planted the seeds of what eventually became the European Union.

There are other far right parties in Europe that also seek to lead their countries out of the E.U. most notably in France where public sentiment is even stronger than was in the U.K. and in the Netherlands.

What's next? Good luck predicting that one.