Ok. I’ll admit it. I voted for Brexit. Guilty as charged. Its all my fault that your retirement funds took a beating over the past week or so. As a US/UK citizen with passports that have taken me to over forty countries, I get to vote in two great democracies. And the thing about democracy, is sometimes it can be nasty, dirty and downright surprising. In other words, people don’t always do what you thought they might do. You can hear the knashing of teeth from the Masters of Politics. “Those nasty, unwashed masses. Don’t they know how wrong they are!!??” And of course this applies in the US as well as the UK. Witness the rise of Trump. Once again you hear “Those nasty, unwashed masses. Don’t they know how wrong they are!!??” from the GOP establishment. So why did I vote for Brexit? I certainly don’t fit the standard profile it seems of a Brexiteer. I am a world traveler, I understand free trade, and I understand the value of the Europon Union to foster cross border relationships with other European countries. I certainly get out more than the average UK Brexit voter. I would think so anyway. London, voted to stay after all. And I live there part time. So why?? Well to me it really boiled down to a chance to “stick it to the man.” After all the Remain campaign said that the world would end if we left, 500 CEO’s said we should stay. The Prime Minister, the Labour leader, Unions, The SNP, all wanted to stay, Even ex-spy chiefs said for securities sake we should stay. The Remain even got support from Dave and Victoria Beckham. Not sure how you top that! Yet despite all this and more railed against the Leave campaign, a narrow majority of voters decided to leave. I voted Leave as I wanted to stop the encroachment of EU rules. I voted leave because I personally cannot stand Junkers. The head of the EU. As I tell friends of mine. If the EU was simply a free trade zone, and movement of people (perhaps too much for some), we would not be in this position. Instead we have a European Flag, an EU finance minister, foreign minister, and more. They set idiotic rules which damage the perception of the EU. They created the Euro which is a catastrophe for anyone but Germany. And they preside over unemployment in the Eurozone at record levels. Thankfully the UK is not in the Euro as we would never leave. When I woke up the news last week in Madrid I was shocked and amazed. Holy %$#@, what have we done? Now, though I am glad I did. At the end of the day I voted with my heart not my head. And I would do it again.
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