Brexit - Stage Right

For those select few among us on this side of the pond who actually paid attention, the vote in England (except London) and Wales to leave the European Union came as a shock.  British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation as the hopes of the Obama admnistration and much of the international community were dealt a serious blow in a close vote.   Donald Trump, in Scotland primarily promoting his new golf resort, claimed victory in Britain "taking back" its independence while ignorant of the fact that Scotland itself had actually voted to remain in the EU as the likelihood of a new Scottish independence move increased.   Stock markets tumbled around the world.

That's not all.   In addition to Scotland talking again about breaking away from the UK, there are rumblings in other European nations about divorcing themselves from the EU.   Right wing nationalist and isolationist politicians are capitalizing on fear as immigration and terrorism become an even hotter topic.   Here what makes this British divorce from the EU so scary.   Europe has had decades of relative peace thanks in large part to effective cooperation amomng nations.   Military alliances alone such as NATO are no check against rampant isolation, hyper nationalism and ethnic divisions.  

I get it... mostly.   There are lots of older blue collar, rural, white and less educated Americans and Europeans who feel alienated by increasing globalism and technology in the economy.  There's a feeling that they're "losing" their countries to immigration and political correctness, but I think much of that fear is misguided.   The gap between the one per cent wealthiest and the rest of us is almost unprecedented.   Bernie Sanders is right in hammering this point home and forcing Hillary Clinton to pay more attention to where the true outrage should be directed.  Trump and Clinton are both part of that financial elite, yet Trump's demagoguery would place most of the blame on immigration and the intellectual elites who routinely refute his faulty "pants on fire" statements.   Unfortunately, passions seem to be overwhelming logic these days and it's not likely to get better soon.   Even if Trump gets clobbered in November, the polarization on both sides of the Atlantic needs to be addressed without jokers like Trump exploiting it.