The Lesson of Brexit

The talking heads are all atwitter about the recent election in Great Britain. It was, in fact, historic. Not just for the subject matter – Brexit – but for the sheer size of the outcome. The British Conservative Party won an overwhelming majority of seats in Parliament – the largest since former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s huge victory in 1987. In contrast, the Labour Party – actually the socialists – succumbed to its largest defeat since 1935.

And now the headlines are filled with endless speculation about what this victory means on both sides of the Atlantic and just as importantly both sides of the English Channel. And that’s what “the news” is all about these days – endless speculation by media elites who were wrong at every turn of events leading up the election and will be just as wrong about their speculations afterward. If it were not for the endless speculation the “news hour” for broadcast and cable news would be less than five minutes. If the broadcast and news media confined their programming to facts instead of rumor, speculation and just made up stuff, most of them would go off the air and those remaining would cut their staffs by eighty percent. Likewise for the print media – if they confined reporting to the facts newspapers would be one page printed on both sides.

So what are the facts? The facts are that three years ago, the people of Great Britain – ignoring the news media and the governing elites – voted to exit the European Union (EU). Polling suggested that they were tired of politicians from failing continental countries making decisions for Great Britain and tired of being overrun by the detritus of tribal warfare in the Middle East and terrorists trained in the madrasas of Saudi Arabia and the killing fields of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Iran pursuant to quotas mandated by the EU. But regardless of the reason, the facts are that voters ignored the speculation of the elites and the news media and voted to leave the EU and reclaim their own sovereignty.

The facts are that then prime minister David Cameron, who favored remaining in the EU, resigned as a result of the pro-Brexit vote and was succeeded by Prime Minister Teresa May. Ms. May promised to implement the withdrawal of Great Britain but she lied. Instead she appointed negotiators who favored remaining in the EU and who spent their time trying to maintain all of Great Britains obligations under the EU while pretending it amounted to a withdrawal. That lie continued for three long years until Ms. May was forced to resign because the result of her lies couldn’t pass a vote in Parliament. Ms. May was succeeded by now Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was one of the original champions of withdrawing from the EU.

The facts are that the recent elections were called by Mr. Johnson to affirm the previous decision to leave the EU and that is precisely how the voters responded. All the rest of the media speculation about pensions, welfare benefits, foreign policy, or even the end of the United Kingdom (CNN) are much ado about nothing. In most instances these issues reflect yet another non-existent crises upon which the media can speculate for another year or so.

So, simply put, the recent election in Great Britain was about lying politicians trying to overturn a previous election. About politicians spending their time trying to thwart the will of the people rather than implement it. About politicians willing to lie and obfuscate. About politicians believing that voters do not know what is best for them. About politicians believing that they can create an alternative reality to what voters can plainly see.

Are there parallels to what is happening politically in the United States? Are there lessons to be learned from the overwhelming vote in Great Britain? These are questions that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and the other lemmings of the Democrat Party should be asking themselves. But they won’t because, like Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, they live in safe election districts and the damage will be done to others rather than them.

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