Friday, June 24, 2016

Brexit Repudiates Political Correctness

A few words from Gerard Baker, editor of the Wall Street Journal. Commenting on the Brexit vote Baker suggests that it is a reassertion of national sovereignty (and identity) in the face of political correctness. I would add that the vote repudiated the fashionable theory of cosmopolitanism, namely that we are all citizens of the world and that there should be no borders between nations.

Baker writes:

Most powerful of all is a yearning to reclaim national sovereignty. For most of the last half-century, the international system has been characterized by an accelerating pace of globalization combined with an elite-driven disdain for the very idea of the primacy of the nation. Mass immigration—in Europe and the U.S.—has been accompanied by a steadily penetrating denigration of the very idea that countries have a primary right and obligation to put their own people first. In the Brexit campaign, native voters’ concerns about the changing character of their own country were widely denounced as racism.

The very idea that the state has a primary obligation to its native citizens has become unfashionable and virtually unsayable within the tightly controlled bounds of political correctness. Legitimate fears in the U.S. and Europe about the arrival of immigrants—especially Muslims, many of whom have a poor record of assimilating in Europe—coupled with the unleashing of Islamist terrorism, have heightened the sense of insecurity and alienation of citizens from their own communities.

11 comments:

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

People want to move to a nation to gain the economic benefits of that nation, but don't want to become a part of the nation and assimilate into the culture. So they give their labor and national cuisine, and ghettoize themselves. That's the theme of non-European migration to Europe the last 50 years. It simply doesn't work. It doesn't work for the nation, and it doesn't work for the immigrant... particularly the children, the first generation born into this alien society, those who don't feel they belong to anything.

You can deny people their expression of their experience for only so long. Eventually, like newspeak, what you hear from the elites doesn't match your experience. When you've had enough, you look for channels for revolt. BREXIT was that expression

The English Channel became more meaningful yesterday.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't help it. I cried with relief at Brexit. Maybe the West is not dead yet.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Marsh said...

Yes, yes, anonymous, there's always a push back when good, patient people get fed up.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

I love this tripe about the pound sterling being in "collapse." Collapse? After the pound has fallen 10 cents to the dollar, resting at $1.35??? That's a predictable fall in value after a significant political event. That's not a collapse!

My goodness, Britain doesn't want to be Germany's bitch anymore. Horrors! The sky is falling. Next: the Italians, Dutch, Danes, French... who knows who else?

Saw this form an editorial in the Daily Telegraph today: "With the referendum proving, once again, the utter contempt for mainstream politicians felt by the white, working classes of virtually all Western countries, the prospect of a President Trump has never seemed more likely."

This just in... you can't spend years and years telling one segment of the population they're the reason for everyone else's problems in the world and expect them to take it indefinitely. The GOPe still doesn't understand this. The Democrats are clueless. Progressives live in another solar system. Leftists are in another universe altogether.

Yet what is absolutely hilarious about all this is that these movements are mostly led by white people. In the case of the Democrat Party, they're old white people. Yet working class white people have been told ad infinitum that they are the source of global evil. And people are shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that there's a backlash underway. Not everyone is self-loathing.

Political correctness is the politically powerful telling us what is correct. Yet we're told again and again we live in a democracy, and the world should be safe for democracy. We don't live in a democracy... we live in a constitutionally-limited federal republic where the people are sovereign. This is news to many people. Our Constitution was established to limit the power of the federal government. Our Bill of Rights was put in place to protect individual rights from this kind of tyranny. Now we have federal laws and rules blanketing every aspect of our lives, and federal agencies armed to the teeth to circumvent posse comitatus. And people wonder why people are buying guns? Really? Anyone googled a gun sales graph for recent history? Barack Obama is the greatest gun salesman in the world!

I was talking with someone the other day about building a wall. He asked me what that will do. I told him it will require migrants to go through a visa process, like they're supposed to. He said the wall would be an ugly symbol to others, especially Mexicans. I told him that white people have been told their symbols and way of life is racist for the past 7 years, and nobody cared about that symbolism. I told him I didn't care what the Mexicans think. He didn't say another word, he was dumbfounded... this kind of talk was new to him. Cry me a river!

So now we just have to protect our rights to have elections, as election results seem very annoying to our elites.

The new word in the political lexicon will be SOVEREIGNTY. Get used to it. People like it.

ga6 said...

Today Brexit., tomorrow Paul Ryan..

Marsh said...

Amen, Ignatious!

Ares Olympus said...

An interesting statistic from the UK - vote by age has a stark reversal:
http://www.politico.eu/article/britains-youth-voted-remain-leave-eu-brexit-referendum-stats/
18-24: 75% stay
25-49: 56% stay
50-64: 56% leave
65+: 61% leave

You might assume youth would be the risk takers. Or maybe that's still true. Staying in the EU contains greater risks, while the retirees see more safety in pulling back from Europe.

And perhaps we have the same dynamic in America with Trump, with ~84% age 45 or older, and only 2% under 30.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/09/09/who_are_trumps_supporters.html
----
In terms of demographics, Trump’s supporters are a bit older, less educated and earn less than the average Republican. About half are between 45 and 64 years of age, with another 34 percent over 65 years old and less than 2 percent younger than 30.
----

We can perhaps in line with quotes like these:
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."

The youth have too much heart, and not enough brains to vote for their own self-interest, so its up to their elders to force them in the right path until they wake up too.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Ares Olympus @June 24, 2016 at 2:35 PM:

"You might assume youth would be the risk takers..."

Yes, you might, except that the 18-24 age group can't even rent a car in the U.S. They're blithering idiots. I was at that age, though I'm sure you exempt yourself... you always do.

Consider how the lies with statistics happen with this stupid data set you've offered here:

18-24: 75% stay
25-49: 56% stay
50-64: 56% leave
65+: 61% leave

It's completely engineered to show how young people agree with what the statistician is trying to demonstrate. Look at the age range:

18-24: 6 years
25-49: 24 years
50-64: 14 years
65+: 17 years (UK life expectancy is 81.50 years, as of 2012... I looked it up, so can you)

Look at those disparities. It's silly. 24 + 6 = 30, 14 +17 = 31. A fair sample? Yes, if you want to split it down the middle in terms of stay vs. leave. But to note a 6-year cohort as statistically significant and worthy of note is to distort the data. What a joke... the lowest set is a 25% distribution against the next-highest age cohort listed.

As for your quote, "If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain," it would seem there is no agreed attribution to this handy relic. No one is confirmed to have said it. So it's just another random statement that corroborates your own view. I've heard that quote attributed to Churchill, Otto von Bismarck, some King of Sweden, etc. It's all bullshit. It's lore.

The idea that youthful idealism has any wisdom or practical merit is a myth of the highest order.

In terms of your idiotic pull from Real Clear Politics, I went to check the link, and that's a doozy, Ares. Here's the quote:

"In terms of demographics, Trump’s supporters are a bit older, less educated and earn less than the average Republican. Slightly over half are women. About half are between 45 and 64 years of age, with another 34 percent over 65 years old and less than 2 percent younger than 30. One half of his voters have a high school education or less, compared to 19 percent with a college or post-graduate degree. Slightly over a third of his supporters earn less than $50,000 per year, while 11 percent earn over $100,000 per year. Definitely not country club Republicans, but not terribly unusual either."

Great analysis. Incredible insight. This RCP link to the article you reference, "Who Are Trump's Supporters?" was from SEPTEMBER 9, 2015!!! Ares, that was 289 days ago! What kind of crap are you trying to pull on people? The Iowa Caucuses was the first contest of the 2016 Republican nomination process, and it was February 1, 2016. That's 144 days ago!!! So you are offering to us this startling, dramatic revelation of poll data that was taken more than TWICE as long ago as the Iowa Caucuses.

You are not only crass and annoying, but deceitful. You'll believe anything to corroborate your lies and delusions. Pathetic.

I thought you said you were into facts. Well, facts are stubborn things, and you're not offering any relevant facts here. Troll. Two can play at this game you've set up...

Please go back to writing your blog. It needs you. You have absolutely no credibility here, you are unpersuasive, and you need to go away. Make yourself great again, and spare us this tripe.

Ares Olympus said...

IAC, wow the accusations are flying tonight - crass, annoying, deceitful, lies, delusions, so much for good faith discussions.

To you the poll that showed youth vote was strongly for staying and the older vote was strongly for leaving is irrelevant because you don't like it.

I wondered if you were going to question the validity of the poll given the results, like since there are more young than 65+, and it would be interesting to see what fraction of each age group actually voted, and how many voters were in each age group. That might catch bad data, but besides that, it has no effect on the preference shift that needs some explaining.

I attempted one simple explanation, that fit within that cute unattributed quote, but I can't really say. I'm confused why you're so hostile over it.

I contrasted to Trump's supporters, yes from 9 months ago, and I'm sure its shifted, and if you wanted to do something besides whine, you could find a newer source and see if Trump's share of the youth vote has risen.

I don't know how this'll presidential election turn out, but given the youth vote leads democrat, it may yet be that Trump can win if the youth vote stays home, because Hillary doesn't offer the "Hope and Change" that young people like and that Obama promised and failed to deliver.

A part of me is content for Trump to win for the same reason you're content, and the same reason for Brexit - because he'll stir things up, and something messy but necessary can come out of that, and I won't be responsible for any of it.

And it'll be even better of the youth eventually blame themselves for not showing up, although if cynicism wins, they'll not even do that, and go back to their netflix and music.

I watched a recent video tonight with Niall Ferguson promoting his ideal of using history to make sense of the present, and he talked about Trump, and called Trump a populist. He define populism in a negative way, as (1) Restricting immigration (2) Putting on tarrifs to limit free trade (3) Attacking banks and limiting capital movements. And he added that populists should be trusted to do exactly what they promise they'll do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsZoGkedCo

I was skeptical that the UK would vote for Brexit, and I'm skeptical that Trump can win, but I'd never say he can't, and both I think will speed up whatever world is coming. People don't want the can to be kicked down the road any longer but few people are any more prepared after 8 more years for the second great economic depression we avoided by delaying it.

No one is innocent any more (for believing in the magic of modern economics to avoid all hardship), so it's all fair game now, even Trump. The trust horizon will be shrinking quickly whatever we do, and I don't know if delaying another decade will help anything anyway.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Once you step in good faith, Ares, I will reply in kind.