BREXIT

The referendum has come and gone. The votes have been cast. Britain has decided to leave the European Union. The silly folk of England have chosen to make their own mistakes and successes - and not act at the whim of their erstwhile puppet masters in Belgium. As a yank I cannot, I suspect, understand all of the details pro/con but I can certainly appreciate the passion of those involved.

Immediate results from the vote? Financial markets are in free fall. Hmmm - may be a good time to buy that Jaguar you've always wanted. And to all of the Christians who claimed the European Union was a sign the end times are here - um - oops. Wrong again.

And all of this was done  peacefully at the ballot box. Make no mistake about it - the rancor between the two sides runs deep. Only time will tell for how long but now it is time foe the real work to begin.

We had a somewhat similar referendum here in the U.S.A. a number of years ago. It was called the Civil War - though there was nothing civil about it. More Americans died as a result of that conflagration - over 600,000 - than WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam combined. Luckily BREXIT was verbally bloody but relatively bloodless otherwise.

I have friends - good friends - on  both sides of the BREXIT issue though admittedly more on the victorious leave side of the equation. I have no dog in the hunt and can actually see logic to both sides of the issue. That is irrelevant though as the votes have been  counted. Time to set in motion the wheels of  change. David Cameron is resigning and a new captain must be elected to steer the Brits Do ya think they now just might understand how we felt when we left their Empire to run our own lives and determine our own future? That turned out pretty well - one can only hope the Brits and their return to independence from the EU turns out well.

That slamming sound you hear is the doors slamming shut on immigration in England. The EU can no longer dump millions of  unwanted people on the island to disrupt all of the social services and programs for which Britain is known.  They are ahead of US on that one.

So now Britain won't send soldiers to fight in wars not of their own choosing or as dictated by the EU. Hmm - will they still ask how high? when we here in the US say jump? 

Now they can negotiate trade deals with the world on their own. Do they negotiate agreements with the EU or the individual member states? Are they in better shape negotiating deals with - say - China on their own or were they better off as part of the EU? Only time will tell.

Defense - can they better defend themselves alone? I have no idea how that will play out. 

The question seems to be this - in an increasingly global economy can Britain better compete alone or as part of a larger economic block. Britain has voted to not relinquish any of their sovereignty for the promise of dealing with the world in all matters as part of a group with allegedly shared purpose.

My friends I can only say "Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it." I know the Brits are not afraid of hard work and that is what this new world of theirs requires. Best of luck to you my friends. I wish you nothing but success.