Brexit

England, last night you broke my heart. I, who have loved you my entire life, who genuinely believed that you had learned from the errors of your imperial ways and had truly become worthy of my esteem, was crushed by your cataclysmic fall from grace.

You let your xenophobic, ax-wielding village idiots make a decision that will irrevocably change the UK - and not for the better. You let racism and fear triumph over rational thought and reason. You forgot what it meant to be the England of Winston Churchill and became the England of Donald Trump. For the first time in my lifetime, you have given me reason to look at you with utter disgust.

How could you!?

How is it that you could not see? Nigel Farage and Donald Trump supported Brexit. That ALONE should’ve told you that it was a bad idea.

And while as a loyal subject of the British Commonwealth I have never spoken a word against the Queen, today, I will. Your Majesty, this is the first time ever, where I feel you have failed the people. Those who do not know better, look to the ones they trust to guide them. In this instance, you should have guided the people. You should have reassured them that a United Kingdom in the European Union is stronger than a United Kingdom alone. Instead, you chose to "let the people decide". In doing so, you left them vulnerable and exposed to the rhetoric of racists like Nigel Farage and unscrupulous opportunists like Boris Johnson. Had you come out and said what the rest of the world knows you believe, the Remain campaign would have won and this unnecessary turmoil could have been avoided.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of David Cameron’s. However, in this issue, he has genuinely put the UK ahead of personal ambition and his conservative views. He negotiated the best possible deal for the UK giving it more autonomy from Brussels than any other member in the EU. This should have been a no-brainer. But under the pressure of the right-wing extremists within the Conservative party, he stupidly caved and called a referendum. This question is too complicated to be reduced to a simple yes or no, determined by the lowest common denominator of the population. The opinion of those with zero knowledge was weighed equally to those with the most knowledge. The narrow-minded were considered equal to those with a big picture view.

I'm also not going to leave out the accomplishments (or lack there of) of Jeremy Corbyn. As leader of the Labour party, he failed to unite the left. He lent less than tepid support for the Remain campaign. While I have no proof, I suspect that he did that just because he didn't want to be seen as siding with David Cameron. This was not the time to be partisan. It was not the time to be petty. This was the time for looking beyond oneself and acting to support the greater good. Maybe he thought the left would just vote Remain and he wouldn't have to tarnish himself by siding with the likes of Cameron. Well, a whole lot of good THAT did!

A decision like this should be made by politicians and their advisors after a series of comprehensive debates in the House. If something as boring and straightforward as tax rates isn't set via a referendum, why on earth would you think something as economically and politically complicated as trade unions should be decided this way? The people elected a government to do the heavy lifting in such complicated matters as these. They put their trust in you to decide on issues so multifaceted that it would be too complicated for any general member of the population to decide on their own. Making these kinds of decisions IS your day job. Putting it to referendum isn't "an act of democracy." It's delegating the decision to those who are not best positioned to make it so that you can shirk responsibility.

Of all the EU member states, you were the one I believed to be the most tolerant; the most progressive.  Perhaps I was willfully blind to the growing infection of bigotry festering in the nooks of crannies of the countryside.  Perhaps I gave you more credit than you deserved.  I want you to think of the words to Imagine and say to yourself, "What would John say about Brexit?"  And then slap yourself repeatedly until you blackout.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all chose to remain in the EU. Addendum: Apparently, only Cardiff choose to stay. The rest of Wales chose to leave. I shake my fist at you, Wales! And London, the very heart of England, also chose to stay. But now, because the ignorant, the racist and the xenophobic have spoken, the UK is going to embark on a journey into the unknown by falling headlong off the Stupidity Tree and hitting every branch on the way down. It is a downward spiral when you let fear and ignorance lead you. Half the time, I expect this sort of behaviour from America. But, you England, you, I held to a higher standard. I believed you were better than them. Maybe that was my mistake. Because clearly, you have failed me.

Since the news broke late last night, I have worked through and calmed my rage. Right now, I'm wallowing in sorrow. But honestly, for validating xenophobic bigotry, I really don’t know if I could ever forgive you, England. I am that heartbroken.