Polls show that Brexit supporters feel very strongly that their sovereignty is on the line. For the sake of Brexit, they are willing to see North Ireland, Scotland, and even Wales withdraw from the United Kingdom, and willing to see the economy crash.
This is widely being portrayed as irrational and hysterical, but I am not so sure. After all many countries have made great sacrifices for the sake of protecting their sovereignty.
So maybe the real question is not whether withdrawal from the EU would entail some hardships -- we all agree that it would. The real question should be whether Britain is withdrawing from the frying pan only to take refuge in the fire.
Donald Trump is eager to see a no-deal Brexit. The reason he wants the Brits to leave without a deal is that if Britain leaves the EU regulatory zone, he can hope to bring Britain into the US regulatory zone. And make no mistake, if Britain joins the US regulatory zone, it will not be as an equal partner, but has subordinate dependency.
Likewise, Vladimir Putin is eager to see Britain crash out of the EU without a deal, and his motives are obvious. What he wants is for the British economy to tank and Russia to come forward as the rescuer. This will, of course, mean reducing Britain to a subordinate dependency -- of Russia.
So maybe the real question to ask Brexit supporters is not whether they are prepared to accept the loss of non-English Britain and the tanking of the economy for the sake of restoring England's sovereignty. The question should be whether ending up as a subordinate dependency of either the US or Russia rates as sovereignty and, if not, whether it is a preferable infringement on sovereignty to the EU.
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