July 21, 2016

History suggests leaving Europe is great for Britain

The almost universal disdain for what Britain did on June 23 is based on four mistaken perceptions. First, most people seem to believe that the country voted against free trade and globalization. This voters did not do. They voted against being members of the European Union (EU), an institution bent on creating something like the United States of Europe, establishing a common European sovereignty over all its members. Voters have not said that they want to isolate Britain. On the contrary, they have said that they want to remain a globalized country and very close to Europe.

Second, most people got the impression that the voters who wanted to get out of the EU were primarily manual laborers, people with lower-than-average education, those who live outside fashionable London, and the elderly. This characterization is not entirely true. Many young, well-educated, fashionable Londoners and southerners voted Leave. Moreover, in any case, the implied idea that the opinions of voters who fall into the former categories should somehow be disqualified is relevant only if the decision had been made not in a full democracy but in one in which the votes of the younger, richer, more intellectual Londoners had extra value.

Read more at https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/keep-calm-brexit-history-suggests-090046436.html

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