Apples and Oranges

Wise men wait, only fools rush in, humm, interesting thought. Do you think maybe the media should take a breath and think about that? No, no, you're quite right, not necessary at all.

In the wake of the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom our press corps immediately began drawing comparisons between that vote and the general election campaign in our own country, suggesting the rise of Donald Trump plays into some global narrative. I suppose if you know nothing, are easily deceived, intellectually lazy and subject to mental contortionism then there might be a sliver of plausibility in the argument. But if you're open to it, how about we take a walk down a more enlightened path.

This ought to go without saying but apparently it can't, the British are not European. They are a pivotal country in the history of the world. Remember when they ruled the world? Of course not, it's been too long ago but perhaps you are familiar with the phrase the sun never sets on the British Empire. That wasn't just a sticker on the back of their ships it was fact. A small island nation literally reached every corner of the planet, planted their flag and ruled and influenced for hundreds of years. It's hard to shake that from your psyche as a nation. The Brits have always strongly exerted their uniqueness, exceptionalism and differences from Europe. In spite of Winston Churchill's important role in calling for the creation of what eventually became the European Union there was fierce opposition in Britain to ever being a member of it. The E.U. was formally organized in 1958. In 1961 Britain was going to join but it failed to do so. It was not until 1973 that a referendum brought the country into the organization. In 1975, just two short years later the nation was already in crisis over joining and a strong campaign to withdraw began calling for an exit. Another referendum was held and the vote was to stay. By 1980 they were firmly in, sort of. They refused and were allowed to not use the euro as their currency, they maintained the British Pound. They were never a part of the Eurozone. The French never wanted them in the E.U. The relationship between Britain and the European Union has always been tense and teetered on disolvement on any given day. What just happened in the United Kingdom starts with a mistake made by Prime Minister David Cameron. In order to appease a minority far right faction of his party who wanted to leave the E.U. completely, he agreed to hold a national referendum. This pledge was made during the General Election of 2015. He thought it was necessary to win but later assessment showed he would have won even without the pledge. An unfortunate miscalculation.

Let's be clear, the United Kingdom is not united on the vote to leave the E.U. Scotland and Northern Ireland and London itself voted overwhelmingly to remain. It was Wales and the remainder of England that voted to leave. Contrary to certain images that were used by the exit leaders it was never about Syrians or others overwhelming the British border, which by the way is water all around, it was about resentment of other Europeans like the Poles coming to the U.K. to work, as they are allowed to do under E.U. agreements. The free flow of citizens throughout the Union is paramount to it's success and stability. It is supreme irony that there should be so much animus directed at the Polish when it was for them that Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. The belief that their jobs were being taken by other Europeans was used by the leave leadership to manipulate many Brits who have economically been suffering for the past several years. More importantly is the notion that they had somehow lost their sovereignty, which was never true. They were angry and manipulated by people like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage just to name two.

The bottom line is they wanted to send a message, we are British, not European. It has become clear that a large number that voted to leave didn't actually think it would happen, they were merely protesting. Now they wonder what have they done and over three million citizens have petitioned Parliament to hold another referendum. That is not going to happen. What they have done became clear immediately. The pound has crashed, the U.K.'s credit rating has been lowered and the government has fell. For now their economic might has shrank. Those they thought would lead have bowed out and the E.U. would like to fast track their exit. Scotland may very well finally have the impetus required to become fully independent because after all, the Scottish are not British!

Here in the United States we are engaged in a general election cycle not a referendum on a piece of legislation. Donald Trump rose because the Republican field wasn't nearly as great as we are told and because millions of primary voters bought some snake oil. They epitomize the characterization of the uninformed voter or still better voters who simply don't care about the consequences of their actions because they believe it just doesn't matter.

Our election has no true comparison to the Brexit vote except for the fact that we are not British and voted to exit from them a long time ago.