The most significant issue in Brexit isn't the EU.
Er... Brexit is all about us exiting the EU. How on earth can you say that it isn't?!
It is Class. Not the old divide between the Aristocracy and Landed classes and the rest, but a new divide between a merchant and managerial technocratic upper middle class, that is much bigger than the old aristocracy and landed gentry were, and the rest.
Ah, so you'd rather go back to the "know your place" days where the peasants doffed their caps to the people who seemingly deserve their higher status due to birthright, rather than those who perhaps managed to get there by their own efforts. Never mind going back to the 1950s - we're going back to the 1750s here.
I think at the end of the day, its not about benefits, its about feeling.
Of course it is. That Great British Feeling of having conquered the World, stripping it of resources and putting down its native populations in the name of "empire". Dividing entire continents according to our own rules and totally disregarding the civic structures that existed before we decided they should be "civilised" according to our own views. The thing is, even back then when we had an empire it was entirely about benefits; the benefits to our own nation at the expense of other people around the world, many of whom still have to deal with the consequences of our desire to Rule the Waves.
Now we feel that it's our right to Waive the Rules and sod everyone else. I'm sorry to say this, but the days when our possessions were marked in pink on the globe are over. There's no going back. Britain is no longer as great as some of us would like to think. We're a small island at the western edge of the european continent and we need to accept that we are no longer the global power that we once were.
I really don't wish to derail the thread by mentioning Scottish independence, but
Besides, as I said, there is no benefits to Scottish Independence. And no Eu membership doesn't count unless Scotland wants a GB tarriff border/huge deficit reduction/pain of setting up own currency and bank and risking reduction of precious exports to England-yet Scottish Independence is currently supported by 56% of the Scottish electorate. And yet, English remainers often blow kisses and throw roses and Scottish seperatists when they display exactly what they loathe in Brexiteers. There is something inate inside people that makes them vote for things that economically will do harm but psychologically makes their lives more meaningful.
There are benefits. For a start, it gets us away from this constant nonsense about being "too wee, too poor and too stupid" to be able to govern our own affairs. Brexiters constantly bang on about Sovereignty while seeking to deny it to a part of the UK which has expressed its desire to have more autonomy. I heard it all during the 2014 Indyref campaign - how can they possibly exist without the rest of the UK? The answer is that we'll do just fine.
There is something inate inside people that makes them vote for things that economically will do harm but psychologically makes their lives more meaningful.
Isn't this what Brexit is all about? Yeah, we told those pesky foreigners that we didn't want freedom of movement, but despite the economic consequences we're happy to do stuff that hurts us economically in order to Take Back Control. If the Scots wish to make that sort of sacrifice, it's really no different to what you've been banging on about.
