People voted with their fears, not their heads. This Guardian lede sums it up perfectly. Exchange Trump for EU Exit, and you have a chilling look at our possible future. Our fearfully isolationist, angrily racist, self-destructive future.
In the end those who placed their faith in the “experts” were always going to be disappointed. The pollsters were wrong; the currency traders were wrong; the pundits were confounded. People who did not feel they had been heard have not just spoken. Given a one-off chance to tell the world what they think of how they are governed they have screamed a piercing cry of alienation and desperation.
Given the choice between the status quo and change (changing something, anything) Britain voted for change. It got its wish. This will change everything.
We are also diminished. Our politics are poisoned, our discourse is fragile, our leaders are discredited. Facts ceased to matter, knowledge ceased to be valued, compassion appeared to evaporate. As large majorities for one side or the other racked up in various parts of the country it became clear that for many of us, beyond our families, we didn’t just disagree with the other side. We literally didn’t know them. Britain is not greater for this decision and this campaign but smaller, weaker and more vulnerable.
