This past week the British Parliament has shown observers how divisive politics can send a message of impotence. The Prime Minister lost an important vote (seeking to ratify Prime Minister May’s Brexit conditions) by the largest margin in over 100 years and then survived a vote of “no confidence” comfortably. The underlying message seems to be “leaving the EU was mandated by the English people (referendum in 2016), but the Government’s plan is not what the English people had in mind, and oh by the way, the Government has no better suggestion which the EU would likely accept, and “crashing out” of the EU (no agreement) is unacceptable since a “no agreement” exit will clearly hurt the UK economically”
How could the British Government have gotten into this paradox?
Hmmm. What if the original supporters of Brexit told voters something that simply was not true and then appealed to nationalistic blindspots so that voters did not take Brexit seriously and never considered the possibility of adverse consequences?
So, as in the US, British voters own Brexit good or bad. In the US American voters own the fruits of President Donald Trump, good or bad. The insanity of the current US Government partial shutdown demonstrates this point well. Candidate Trump appealed to the xenophobic nature of many Americans and caste the undocumented immigration of Mexicans and Central Americans as a serious, monumental problem. “Drugs, criminals, and terrorists are streaming across the border” the Candidate said, “ and I am going to fix it”. Hmmm.
In the face of facts to the contrary, the President claimed there was a crisis (border crossing are at a ten year low), drugs are flowing across the border (true but an estimated 80% of drugs smuggled across the border come through authorized points of entry), and 2000 terrorists have been apprehended trying to enter the US (probably true but not over our southern border with Mexico), therefore, there is a need for a large wall to prevent unauthorized crossings as well as smuggling (even though most drugs pass through ports of entry and smugglers have shown walls don’t work perfectly (smugglers are building tunnels where ever they think best.
As with Brexit, the President painted a picture which is simply not true. Now escalating the political disagreement by shutting down a portion of the government and arguing “it’s my way or the highway”, President Trump has lost any rationality to the issue of border security.
The path forward for the US partial shutdown is unclear. Politically, Democrats can not submit to this type of bully-ism since the President can try the same tactics on future issues. Some say the President won’t back down either but when air traffic controllers or TSA agents do not man their posts, or IRS workers do the same, the impact of no air travel or no tax revenue collection will shake the country to its core. Impeachment might sound more appropriate and a Senate conviction more possible.
For Brexit, the most favorable option to avoid the ugliness of leaving the EU might be another referendum. Were British voters to vote to remain in the EU, the British Government could live to die another day.
For President Trump, 2020 is coming quickly. Each day the shutdown continues, Trump’s chances for reelection shrink. Each day the Republican Senate members sit on their hands and do not act as a separate and co-equal branch of Government, the more likely the Senate will shift to Democrat control. Hmmm.