ISSUES FOR GREAT BRITAIN LEAVING THE E.U. ARE IN LINE WITH THE U.S.

…The noise before the BREXIT vote

 

The BREXIT and the Donald Trump phenomena are closely related.

 

It is interesting that the same issues that have fueled the phenomenon of Donald Trump and his, “Make America Great Again,” campaign are exactly the same issues that fueled the decision of many of the British people to leave the European Union.

 

The same anger that has gripped Americans these past years, and caused unease with US politicians, that anger has also hit the general population in Great Britain (GB). The choices within the two countries may be different, but what has caused the angry sentiment behind the votes comes largely from the same set of complaints. Even the positions with the voters in both countries are very similar. 

 

In GB, as in the United States, voters are polarized along he same recognizable lines: the young vs. old; the college-educated vs. non-college-educated; the urban population vs. small town and rural. 

 

Yes, it was a close race in GB’s decision to leave the E.U..  Just as it is expected to be in the race between Hillary and Trump in November.

 

But look at the issues and how they sincerely do compare between the BREXIT (which is an acronym for Britain’s decision to leave the EU), and the issues that caused the rise of Donald Trump.

 

·       Both the US and the British have had issues of changing demographics.  America is becoming less “white”, while the immigration issue and the “browning of Britain” is also a big issue for their older British population.

 

·       In Great Britain, the older in their population were for leaving the E.U., while the younger Brits wanted to stay.  In the US, the younger Americans wanted Bernie Sanders liberal direction, while it’s the older ones that support both Hillary and Trump.

 

·       As in US, Britain’s Rural population is fed up with their government, while those in the major cities were more supportive of the status quo.

 

·       The economic inequality is a problem in both America and in Great Britain.  Both have seen larger financial gaps between the “haves” and the “have nots” within both populations.

 

·       GB also has their shrinking “middle class”, as does the US.

 

·       The desire of the older British citizens to go back to earlier times would also allow for a British version of the American “Trump slogan”, which would instead say: “Make Great Britain Great Again”.

 

·       Many older Brits appear to want to reclaim their nation’s sovereignty by removing the power from the bureaucrats in Brussels, which is the headquarters of the 28-member European Union. bloc.

 

·       Many in the population of GB feel like they do in America, that those in the government are not doing the British people’s business.  They feel the British government needs a “kick in the butt”.

 

·       Jobs have disappeared and wages have stagnated in GB, just as they have in the US, and the national inflation over the last two decades has been bad for both nations.

 

·       As it is within the US, the issues in GB are very complex, but because of overall dissatisfaction with the status quo, both country’s older populations have “had it up to here, and are not going to take it anymore!”

 

·       In GB, leaving the the E.U. was a way for the older British population to “take their country back”…….sound familiar?

 

·       What’s interesting is that Google went crazy in GB after the voting results were announced.  The Brits were trying to find out what exactly the “European Union” was…..many Brits apparently didn’t know what they had even voted for.

 

There has been a general feared that by voting to leave the E.U. would pose a great financial risk. But it is clear that the sense of disgust and disenfranchisement is deep and widespread within Great Britain.  But many people in GB thought the vote to leave the E.U. was only a “survey vote”, not a vote to actually leave.  Over 3 million people in GB have signed a petition to reverse their vote for leaving the E.U.

 

Even Donald Trump, who happened to take a business trip to Scotland on the same day that GB voted to leave the E.U.  However, Trump had only made the trip for re-opening his refurbished golf course in Turnberry, Scotland.  But, as expected, Trump made a statement in Scotland that “…just like it is here in America, where the people have had it with Washington politicians and their stupid decisions, the British people are fed up with the decisions of the British politicians.”

 

In reality, the distrust with politics cannot be overstated on either side of the Atlantic.

 

During the debate in GB, a Mr. Michael Gove, a Conservative Party lawmaker and a leading voice in the “leave the E.U.” campaign, discredited the expert studies warning of the economic consequences of leaving. “People in this country have had enough of economic experts,” he said.  And so far, other than the expected hit on the stock markets, it doesn’t at first seem to be as bad as some expected.  But it will take months, perhaps years, for the final effect of leaving the E.U. to be felt in GB.

 

As it is in the United States, the campaigns within the British Isles have been seen as being serious by the increased vulgar coarseness of the people’s language.  (More swear words used when today’s Brits are discussing British politics.)  It also shows the effects of their new age social media and the rapidly growing sub-culture of today’s cable television that are effecting the population.  Plus, when you add the negative effects of all of the terrorist attacks in both Europe and America.

 

A British freelance writer outside a polling station in London, said that the British vote was a “head versus heart” decision. He thought that being in the E.U. meant to the British people that Britain had “a lack of control over its own destiny”.  In addition that the nation’s decisions are being made by the people’s emotions, not by commonsense.

 

Trump is definitely not a beloved figure in Britain, but the choice before Americans in November is similar to the choices of the British people in deciding to leave the E.U.  As an example, Trump said he would probably vote to leave the E.U. if he were casting a ballot in GB.  The people in the US that have said they would vote for Clinton, when asked whether GB should leave the E.U., this group was for GB to remain in the E.U. bloc.

 

But the one thing is for sure, here in America’s choice of Trump over Clinton. 

 

If Trump wins, the devastation of what will happen to the US will be much more severe than what is going to happen to Great Britain for leaving the E.U..

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016