By Simon Gonzalez
It was all about the toasters.
A couple of old friends, knowing my British roots, asked me about the Brexit vote. I was born in England, so surely I had some opinion about it, right?
I was embarrassed to tell them that while I could wax eloquently about the fortunes of England’s football team in the European Championships — if ranting about gross incompetency can be deemed eloquent — I hadn’t really been keeping up with my erstwhile countrymen’s decision to leave the European Union.
Then I did a little research, and read about the toasters.
Media reports in May, well over a month before the Brexit vote, detailed the EU’s plan to ban appliances such as toasters, kettles and hair dryers. Internet routers, hand dryers, mobile phones and patio jet-washers were also being considered for the no-buy list.
The so-called “ecodesign” restrictions were aimed at combatting global warming. They would “ban the most energy-inefficient devices from sale in order to cut carbon emissions,” a report in the Telegraph stated.
The plans had been in the works for months, but the bureaucrats in Belgium, where the European Commission is headquartered, delayed implementation until the fall lest it influence the Brits’ referendum to leave. But when word got out, it just might have tipped the scales toward the Leave side.
“The EU now interferes with so many aspects of our lives, from our breakfast to our borders. If we vote remain we will be powerless to prevent an avalanche of EU regulation that Brussels is delaying until after the referendum,” said Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign.
Exactly.
The vote was about the sovereignty of a nation, the right of a people to choose their representatives and not to bow to silly edicts issued by anonymous, unelected bureaucrats in another nation.
You might even call it vexation without representation.
It might not rise to the level of going to war like a certain nascent country did 240 years ago, but the Brexit vote was a declaration of independence nonetheless.
OK, perhaps the comparisons between the establishment of a new nation that had to be earned through years of bloodshed and the withdrawal from a geo-political entity via the ballot box are a little overblown, even a few days after July Fourth. But there are things happening in England in the aftermath of the vote that should serve as cautionary tales for those of us on this side of the pond.
After the vote people took to the streets, to the airwaves, to the newspapers, to social media, to protest democracy.
Some of the arguments were reasonable. An issue this serious with far-reaching ramifications should not be on the ballot, or should not be decided by a simple majority.
Some were ridiculous. Because the vote affected the future of young people, their votes should count more. Even though 64 percent of 18-24-year-olds couldn’t be bothered to vote.
Millennials were disenfranchised by the system because there was no online balloting, some said. Seriously? You’re “disenfranchised” because you can’t be bothered to put down your phone and actually find a polling place and vote?
There were suggestions that “backward thinking old people” messed it up for everyone, so they shouldn’t have been allowed to vote. The “too dumb to vote” theme was echoed in headlines that said Brexit happened even though “experts” warned against it. What experts? Why, ones that agreed with the political slant of the news outlet, of course.
Then there were the predictable charges of racism and fascism, nativism and xenophobia against the Leave supporters.
Does any of that sound familiar?
We’re seeing similar sentiments here, especially among the intellectual elite who look down their noses at the uneducated rubes who dare to think differently, and especially in this political season.
There is an active anti-free speech crowd, especially on college campuses, that seeks to silence the voices of those who disagree with the orthodoxy of the day. There have been harangues against the adage that everyone is entitled to an opinion because some opinions are just wrong and should be silenced.
There are attempts to shut down Donald Trump rallies, because everybody knows that Trump is a racist and should be silenced. Or is it that he’s dumb and should be silenced?
The implication, just as it was in Great Britain, is that some people just shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
Just like the people on both sides of the Leave and Remain sides in Great Britain, we will disagree on what is best for the country based on a number of factors. Hopefully, we can steer clear of the impulse to silence those who disagree with us, and let democracy run its course.
