Is Brexit Good for Britain?

Forum Panel Photo: Ileana 2016

The American Conservative Union (ACU) and its foundation held a panel discussion on the topic of Brexit: The Collapse of the EU and Its Impact on America in the Cannon Caucus Room on June 13, 2016. The panelists were Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, Steve Hilton, former senior advisor to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and KT McFarland, ACU Foundation Senior Fellow.

The British people will vote in a referendum on June 23, 2016 whether the U.K.  will stay in the European Union or exit, hence the abbreviation Brexit. President Obama visited the U.K. to support the “Remain” in the EU movement and attacked the “Leave” campaign.

Nile Gardiner criticized President Obama for his involvement in trying to influence the referendum of another nation. After President Obama’s speech, Gardiner added, the polls increased by 3 to 4 percent in favor of Brexit.

At the center of the debate are U.K.’s economic freedom, economic development, secure borders, massive immigration, and self-determination as a sovereign nation. According to Nile Gardiner, “Britain is no longer a sovereign nation.”

As a pan-European behemoth, EU is not really interested in peace and prosperity for all, even though originally, following the two world wars, that was probably a noble goal. As Paul Watson said “EU is about obliterating nation-states and replacing them with its own Byzantine United States of Europe and seizing raw power.” EU has become a “sprawling empire, it is not a free trade zone.”

How is the European Union an empire and not a free trade zone? The EU has a central bank, a president, one currency, criminal justice system, passport, flag, anthem, all “characteristics of a nation-state, a pan-European nationality, while they are criticizing us [U.K.} for our nationalist views.”

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are paid to inundate the waves with messages that EU must have more control; EU grabs more power and pretends that it did so in response to popular demand even though the voting public was never fully aware of EU’s true intentions. It is a classical modus operandi which has been employed at the state and local levels around the world in order to implement Sustainable Development, the lynchpin of United Nation’s Agenda 21/2030 without any real public input or voting.

“The American people would never accept the loss of self-determination,” added Nile Gardiner. Fearmongering to force the British people to stay in the EU is not working anymore. “The British people are clamoring for their freedom; they are clamoring to decide their own future. … And I hope that the American people will support them,” he concluded.

Responsible for the implementation of all domestic policies under Prime Minister David Cameron, and a personal friend, Steve Hilton found himself on the opposite side of his former boss in regards to Brexit. He fully supports U.K.’s exit from the EU as a way to bolster economic development and increase safety and prosperity for all British citizens. “EU has three presidents, none of whom are elected.”

“EU is seen as a version of NAFTA. It is not NAFTA,” Hilton said. It is a question of domestic policy, he explained. “Much more than half of what the British government was doing on a weekly basis, was implementing the EU’s decisions which we did not vote for and most of which we actually disagreed with. There was nothing we could do about it because we were not in control.” Unelected bureaucrats in Brussels made those decisions for domestic policy, environmental policy, everything is determined this way. Philosophically, he argued, British citizens believe in the freedom from administrative powers that constrain their ability to run their own lives.

When the EU Commission has its own government as well as the legislative body, with no separation of powers, then that is classic definition of tyranny, not democracy. Many believe that the EU Parliament is a “ceremonial position” with no real power.

The NGOs and the MEPs are the real power brokers, representing the powerful elites behind the scenes. It is generally believed that the MEPs earning up to 740% more than the average citizen, free shopping sprees, gasoline, haircuts, 12,000 euros per month staff budget and other perks, buys their allegiance to the EU. “MEPs make laws which they exempt themselves from.”

Every time referendums were held to make decisions that affected certain countries, if the results did not meet the stated goals of the EU, the vote was ignored and they were forced to vote again until they returned with the results the EU desired.

For example, Paul Watson explained, “Denmark, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, and Greece have voted to reject the Maastricht Treaty, the Niece Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty, the EU Constitution, the euro bailout, which was illegal under their own “democratic” laws, the votes were ignored.” As Jean-Claude Juncker, the current President of the European Commission, said, “There can be no democratic choice against the European Treaties.” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31082656

The root of the EU problem, KT McFarland said, was failed multiculturalism. The premise of this policy was that no nation wanted to sit in judgment of another nation, they were all equals, and it was perfectly fine to allow ethnic groups to set up enclaves, their countries within a western nation, in which to live off of the generous host welfare system, while making no effort to adapt to the new country or even have any allegiance to it. Countries, where multiculturalism is entrenched, will never be the same. McFarland cites Germany and Sweden as classical examples.

Another serious problem is national security which cannot be guaranteed with open borders. “In terms of security, Europe is committing assisted suicide,” said McFarland.

When EU judges say that “immigrants convicted of violent crimes cannot be deported from the U.K. unless their safety can be guaranteed in their home countries,” they are putting the safety of British citizens at further risk.

Most nations do not have adequate means, militarily or otherwise, to stop the flood of refugees.  Putting up barbed wire to stop the flood is ludicrous. What drives those refugees, McFarland said, is the conflict in the Middle which is not going to stop any time soon. Once negotiations allow five more states to join the EU, including Turkey, Serbia, and Albania, there is a potential of 80 million Turks migrating westward to countries with the most generous welfare systems.

There is already a shortage of housing in the U.K., “ten buyers for every home for sale.” According to Paul Watson, there are stories coming out of Sweden and Germany which describe “the government as making their own citizens homeless in order to accommodate Muslim migrants that have nothing but contempt for our culture, people from a regressive culture and belief system.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNJ05NfM-4Y

The strain on the economies of those countries that are taking in so many refugees under the multiculturalist policy will be enormous – feeding them, housing them, educating them, and medically treating them. “The most wanted man in the world, whose poster was at every train station, at every bus stop, was hiding in plain sight,” added McFarland.

Economic pressure, culture pressure, and a national security pressure through open borders are issues that British citizens must address on June 23. Additionally, wealth confiscation through U.K.’s 350 million pounds a week sent to EU, money that they cannot control how it is going to be spent, rigid EU regulations that destroy small businesses that cannot comply with, unemployment caused by massive exodus of cheap labor destroy the middle class. As Hilton said, we cannot accept millions of waiters from Eastern Europe, without our own British waiters becoming unemployed.

British fishermen have lost fishing grounds due to EU rules and the fishing industry has been devastated in waters where they’ve been fishing for centuries. “The EU has been paying fishermen to destroy their boats,” said Paul Watson.

Trade should improve once Brexit happens because EU does not allow Britain to negotiate its own trade deals. “EU needs the U.K., “we are their biggest export market.” To say that Britain will have to go to the “back of the queue” is ridiculous and irresponsible, said Nile Gardiner. Switzerland is not in the EU and still trades with them but is flourishing economically precisely because it is not in the EU.

Paul Watson made the best description why Brexit is good for Britain: “A vote to leave is a vote for the people, for small business, for lower taxes, for cheaper household bills, for lower fuel costs, for cheaper food prices, and against the obnoxious elites in Brussels.”

It really is a vote for personal freedom and self-determination.