Oxford, ENGLAND — If all goes well, a crisis like Brexit, which has agonized and divided the United Kingdom, will never happen in America. The British made the mistake of surrendering a chunk of their sovereignty to the European Union nearly a half century ago. Since then, the EU has gradually acquired more control from the U.K. and other member countries.
In 2016, the U.K. rebelled, voting in a national referendum to leave the EU. This created a political split more ugly and bitter than the division in the United States over President Trump. It divides the British elite — liberals, business, academics — from conservatives and most of the working class.
Average Brits are desperate to ease the torment of Brexit. “Londoners are turning to yoga to tackle growing Br-anxiety,” according to the Evening Standard. One doctor said she did “a yoga therapy breathing course … It really helps to reduce stress.”
The elite forces demanded a new referendum. But having failed to get that, they’ve managed to block Brexit from going into effect. On Sept. 24, the 11-member Supreme Court unanimously declared Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new effort to implement Brexit illegal. Johnson wants a full national election, which polls show he would be favored to win. But he lacks the votes in Parliament to schedule one.
“There is only one definitive way to arrive at a truly Democratic outcome,” American-born columnist Janet Daley wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “We must have a general election as soon as is humanly possible.”
Why has the U.S. not been attracted to join a multilateral organization like the EU? President Barack Obama spoke often and favorably of a multilateral approach. But nothing like the EU, run by a non-democratic commission in Brussels, has been proposed. Johnson, who was born in New York City, has explained Brexit with an argument likely to appeal to many Americans.
Here’s how the Daily Mail summarized his pitch: “Among the myriad benefits of Britain quitting the EU, one toward above the rest: Taking back control. Not only did this mean regaining sovereignty over our laws, money, borders, and trading agreements, it also meant stopping the remorseless undermining of our legal system by the European courts — placing power squarely back in the hands of U.K. judges.”
Douglas Carswell, a former House of Commons member and Brexit supporter, described what an EU-like organization combined of the nations of North and South America might look like. He spoke in London to the Fund for American Studies, a U.S. group.
It would consist of three entities: a high court in Toronto, a parliament in Lima, Peru, and at the top, an unelected commission in Mexico City. Decisions would be made by representatives of all American countries. There would be no powerful panel like the Security Council at the United Nations, where the U.S. has veto power.
Fred Barnes, a Washington Examiner senior columnist, was a founder and executive editor of the Weekly Standard.
