BY SAM WHITE
One of the false charges levelled at Leave voters is that Brexit is an act of self-harm. That whatever reasons a person might have for voting to escape from the European Union, the amount of damage caused will always outweigh the benefits.
But from where I stand, the only masochistic inclinations come from hardcore Remainers themselves, as they attempt to hinder or halt a clean, well executed departure.
As they snipe and circle in a constant, bad tempered performance, drawing attention to their own discontent like hormonal adolescents, it becomes clear that they’ll try every trick at their disposal to oppose democracy.
An already impatient Leave camp is being made twitchy by the Remain contingent’s obstructive posturing, but can the Europhiles do any real damage?
The most vocal Remainers are so entrenched and irrational that they’ve actually shifted general opinion toward the very thing they’ve spent the past few months ardently demonising: a hard Brexit.
There are Leave supporters who’ve consistently argued that the only real Brexit is hard Brexit, and Remain have unwittingly reinforced this view. In fact, the idea of simply repealing the 1972 European Communities Act and walking nonchalantly away as if we’ve never heard of Article 50 now has a certain nihilistic, up-yours attraction. It’s the kind of thing Sid Vicious would do if he was in charge. Not so much a hard Brexit as a brick to the face Brexit.
That might give credibility to the charges of self harm though, and it’s unlikely our politicians would have the poised recklessness to pull it off. Instead, given the space to play smart, our negotiators would do best to take that most composedly British of approaches, and play the long game.
And were we united behind Brexit, they could do that.
However, with Remain jabbering and poking in the background like irritating, spoiled children, the considered approach becomes less attractive. What Brexiteer would feel comfortable with such a cautious route now, in the knowledge that amoral Remainers would have more time to subvert the plan?
Suddenly we’re a little less Roger Moore, and a bit more like John Cleese in Clockwise—quite prepared to steal a Porsche while dressed as a monk, as we race to trigger Article 50 before the entire glorious achievement can be stolen from us.
The upshot is that as time goes by and the Remain crowd stay as unreasonable as ever, the safest option, to ensure that we really do leave for good, is to get out quickly and completely, whatever it takes. And the nudge toward such thinking comes not from any external pressures, but from the internal threat of the Remain saboteurs themselves—those who least want to take that course.
There’s no reason Britain can’t make a success of any style of Brexit, but it’s certainly not ideal that our hand is being forced by undemocratic elitists, and those elements of the media who turn into intellectually stunted dullards when attempting to get a handle on EU antipathy. (“Duh, shall we go with the racist angle again?”)
Something these anti-democrats can never get their heads around is patriotism. The idea that a citizenry could be willing to risk a short-term financial hit in order to secure priceless, permanent sovereignty is apparently unfathomable.
They also have difficulty reconciling national integrity with being an outward looking, internationally-minded country, but of course there is no conflict between these things. Right now it’s the EU that appears stagnant and insular, while an independent, agile Britain looks fresh and ready to do business.
Perhaps it’s this intractable refusal to consider the value of nation states—in their most inclusive and forward thinking colours—that holds the Remainers back.
But that’s their problem. They’ve had almost half a year, and deserve no sympathy if they can still neither adjust to change, nor make the effort to understand an alternative point of view. All we must now ensure is that their regressive tendencies are not allowed to affect our democratic choice.
Sam White writes for Country Squire Magazine. Other Sam White articles can be found by using the search box below (just type in Sam White) and also by looking here.