Pitchforks down, I know I know, how dare I, a left leaning blogger, even imply that Brexit will actually be a positive move. Surely this populist, exclusionist, isolationist decision can only be a colossal catastrophe for both the Nation and the World. Well I am many things but most of all I am an optimist, and here I have found the silver lining, and in doing so I can confirm that this is not a catastrophe at all, rather this is potentially the forward step that the World needs. Notice I said World there, the Nation, unfortunately, is very much not included in this step.
When the EU was established it was a thinly veiled attempt to try and stop us from all murdering each other. We’d gotten quite into the habit of murdering each other over the last couple of thousand years but finally we’d had enough, the last spate of murdering was just a bit too murdery for everyone’s taste (how to trivialise the most horrific conflict the world has ever seen in one sentence). The thing is, out of this desire to stop beating each other up we began to realise that actually we worked rather well with one another. It was almost as if cooperation actually drove innovation and economic expansion better than isolation and constant bickering (who would have thought it? Everyone. Everyone thought it). There were some setbacks of course, the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, Eurovision, but together Europe thrived, we grew out of some pretty deep ashes and became the powerhouse of economic and social revolution that we are today. There has always been a thorn in this progress though, the whining, snotty nosed, infected limb on the side that has been the UK.
If you’re a European Europhile you wouldn’t be blamed to have a real dislike of the UK, frankly I’m surprised any Europeans even like us at all. At every corner of positive change the UK has stuck its heels in and held it back.
“Here’s a unifying single currency that will create incredible potential for trade across borders, would you like to adopt this?”
“Nope”
“Here’s a revolutionary centralised banking system that literally spreads through international borders, do you want to get in on this?”
“Nah”
“Do you want to elect passionate and qualified politicians and leaders to take part in what is the greatest democratic experiment ever undertaken in global history?”
“No, but here’s Nigel F**ing Farage and a doggy bag full of Indian food and vomit. The doggy bag is the more qualified.”
We’ve been nothing but a hindrance. Yes the Economy of the UK is powerful, perhaps the only one that rivalled Germany, but is this Economic power really worth having around if all it’s going to do is throw its weight around to try and stop you from getting on with what you really want? Surely it’s better to have this as a trading partner at arms length so you can tell them to get stuffed as you move forward with completing the final goal of what Europe could be:
A Federal State.
It’s barely mentioned, barely whispered that this could become a possibility, at least not within those I hang out with and they’re a pretty liberal bunch. But this is the final goal, the light at the end of the tunnel. Europe for years has been moving slowly towards it without even realising it at times and now that the festering, rotten, putrefied left arm that’s been holding them back has unceremoniously auto-amputated they can finally get around to actually consolidating themselves to realise this goal.
Imagine, a country that contains multiple cultures, languages, histories and identities yet moving together as a united yet separately unique people. It’s the realisation of what a globalised Humanity can finally be, one that doesn’t look at our differences but at what binds us whilst also celebrating those differences as being strengths that are more powerful together than separate. It’s what the dream of America should have been, (and still could be so long as the troll-doll in chief is kept in check) and it’s the first step to create a global culture as we push beyond the boundaries of Earth. Unfortunately it’s a step that will be taken without the UK.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe Europe is about to hold hands, sing Kumbaya and walk off into a golden sunset. It’s going to be extraordinarily delicate and monstrously complicated, particularly at the moment. Populist movements are rising throughout the Schengen area as a natural push-back against this, whether they know it or not, not to mention what’s going on over the Atlantic (never to mention what’s going on over the Atlantic...), and yet with a delicate approach and a lack of bitterness over the current situation it is possible that this push-back will be fleeting as the benefits of unity and shortcomings of isolationism are realised. It’s going to take a lot of cool heads and a lot of hard debates to happen but I think it is now more possible than anyone realises, what could be the single most incredible Democratic occurrence is within grasp and I will be stuck on the side-lines watching it happen.
You can debate the benefits of Brexit for the UK back and forth forever, only time will actually tell what will happen there, and of course this idea of a Federal State is a monumentally complicated one of which I can only grasp at ideals. Yet if we look at Europe, perhaps through some slightly rose tinted glasses and a cup half full then there really is a silver lining, for one side of the channel at least.