This Is Opposition

I usually write about American politics here, because I've lived in the United States most of the time since I was a lad, notwithstanding I was born and partly raised in London. But today I'll have a discussion about British politics in order to make a point about America right now.

You've probably heard of Brexit, which was a referendum in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. It was favored by the far right, racists, nativists, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin.

The Brexit campaigning saw a lot of Russian interference, much like happened in the United States. And implementation would be ruinous to the British economy as well as injure Europe's economy, something Putin would love to see. That's why the British pound lost so much value the day after it passed and has yet to make up to pre-vote levels.

A majority now favors having a second referendum so as to negate the first referendum. If that doesn't happen, they favor Parliament voting to ignore the original referendum, which was non-binding.

There could be many ways for Brexit to happen. One is for a "soft exit," meaning the UK would only leave the EU once a negotiated agreement is reached. Another is for a "hard exit," which means the UK would simply leave the EU with no agreement in place if one is not hammered out by the end of next month. The latter option would almost certainly push Britain into a deep recession and spiraling inflation, a toxic mix. It would be the 1970s all over again.

Boris Johnson was elected by the Conservative Party to serve as Prime Minister in July of this year. Sometimes called "Britain's Trump," he is a Hard Brexit advocate. A significant percentage of his party, however, is not in favor of the hard exit, and the left-of-center parties, notably Labour, are against it.

Needless to say, in the last few days, Johnson has tried to force through four parliamentary votes to speed the way to Hard Brexit. And he has failed in every last one of them (details here).

This is because a portion of his own party, including Winston Churchill's grandson, refused to back him and voted him down.

This is what opposition looks like -- legislators putting country before party. They are humiliating their own party's PM because they believe it's the right thing to do.

Jump over the pond to Washington. There the differences are stark. Republicans on Capitol Hill constantly grumble off the record about Trump, but they keep voting to back him no matter what, with very rare exception.

It is democratic to refuse to back your own party leader when you feel it is in the best interest of your nation to do so, something we're seeing now in the UK. And it's totalitarian to back your own party leader even when you know it's not in the best interest of your country or its people, as we see regularly in Washington these days.