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    Sean BrodyHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:27am

    So why try to do this crap, then?

    Brexit is propelled by the same vague anti-immigrant, nationalist sentiment that motivates a lot of Donald Trump voters. Polls say that immigration, not the economy, is the most powerful driver of “Leave” sentiment.

    I’d personally add that the British (the English really) are just naturally disinclined toward ceding power and taking any instruction from Europe. Eurosceptics have been around as long as the Common Market.
    There is a subliminal urge to scratch the phantom limb of empire that will take a long time to die out.

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      TheDramaLlammaSean Brody
      6/23/16 9:35am

      There is a subliminal urge to scratch the phantom limb of empire that will take a long time to die out.

      Quality analogy.

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      King_jaffe_jofferSean Brody
      6/23/16 9:39am

      I may be wrong but I thought that part of the EU’s problem is no centralized government? A federal government if you will. Isn’t the EU a bit like the US before the Constitution, I.e. with the articles of confederation?

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    StenchofaburnerHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:29am

    They shouldn’t leave. They should be kicked out. I live in Germany and if I have to hear again from these idiots how they are inherently superior to the rest of Europe, how they are under threat and “the continent” is out to have them, I will just lose it. Europe should actually just say “you are so much better than us? There, take your ball and play in your own yard”. I am tired of English delusions of grandeur (because let’s face it, this is majorly an English belief, not British).

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      StillLifewithWoodpeckersStenchofaburner
      6/23/16 9:38am

      Another normally very left, very green, consistently anti-CSU voting (from the south) who is a #KrautforBrexit. Refusing to adopt the € was reason enough, but now the refusal to deign to help with the refugee crisis, Greece, or climate change...plus the above mentioned inexplicable colonial superiority. Not to mention the seeming inability to acquire the second and third languages most Europeans have. Now your football hooligans will need visas. Bye.

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      StenchofaburnerStillLifewithWoodpeckers
      6/23/16 9:42am

      I am very green, very left and highly skeptical of EU neoliberalism. That said, the way the English have framed this whole thing is disgusting. And after the murder of Jo Cox (who was a brilliant politician with heart), they have only dispensed platitudes about “coarsening language” and “polite debate” when their problem is much deeper than that. Until they deal with their delusions of colonial superiority and ingrained classism, they will continue having these problems. It’s not about the language they use in the debate. It’s what they are debating about in the first place.

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    IanHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:25am

    Kind of a tangential subject, but am I the only person that thinks that, since all of this stuff with Terry “#WhinyLittleBitch” Bollea, more right-wing dipshits are infecting the discourse here?

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      cuntybawsIan
      6/23/16 9:26am
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      Xan1567Ian
      6/23/16 9:28am

      Yea, it's much better when gawker debates are far far left vs far left.... Who needs opposing ideas?

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    Brendan O'ConnorHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:36am

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      Sodding Junk MailBrendan O'Connor
      6/23/16 9:47am

      obligatory:

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      Scared shitlessBrendan O'Connor
      6/23/16 9:53am

      don’t you dare pull out

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    Phantom_RenegadeHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 10:31am

    They’ve never been part of the Union. Not really. Get out and good riddance.

    The problem is of course that there are a number of very valid reasons to leave the EU, and personally I think that a number of countries (Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium) should get out as well. We expanded too much, too quickly. We took in a large number of eastern european countries who are incredibly corrupt, not to mention broke. Instead of acknowledging this mistake, we just went on annexing more and more countries, which is at least partially to blame for the current crisis in the Ukraine.

    And then there is the EU itself. Bloated, corrupt, incompetent and with a large number of very powerful unelected officials. It boggles my mind how Americans can be in favour of the EU when you lot elect absolutely everybody. Judges, mayors, sherrifs. And yet, when people want to leave a union where the only democratic body has no actual power, suddenly leaving is a terrible idea.

    Anti-immigration is not a valid reason for leaving the EU. It’s selfish and racist. But the EU is a terrible institution born out of a noble idea that, through corruption and power hungry madmen, is now creating the very crises it was originally established to prevent.

    The EU should be torn down, the current leaders jailed, and a small selection of countries that roughly share the same ideas and ideals should start afresh, and not even thinking about expanding until everything runs smoothly.

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      Dirty KafirPhantom_Renegade
      6/23/16 10:47am

      Nope, anti-immigration is cultural self-preservation.

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      Phantom_RenegadeDirty Kafir
      6/23/16 10:54am

      I think you mean cultural stagnation.

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    festivusaziliHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:27am

    How is Brexit so much worse as a word than Grexit? I have no idea. It just is.

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      cuntybawsfestivusazili
      6/23/16 9:28am

      And yet both are better than Jim’ll Fix it.

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      festivusazilicuntybaws
      6/23/16 9:30am

      “Jeb’ll Fix It.”

      *fervent whispers* “What?!” *whispers*

      “Jeb!”

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    crayoneaterHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:44am

    What can we learn from all this?

    That old, well off voters are assholes everywhere?

    The greatest generation created the worst generation.

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      ReburnsABurningReturnscrayoneater
      6/23/16 9:54am

      Eh, I’m not sure that the old and well off are who is behind this. People with money, who are invested in financial markets, are pretty much uniformly opposed to this idea.

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      Group B-raaaaaaaaaap!ReburnsABurningReturns
      6/23/16 10:00am

      This entire Brexit push is heavily couched in the stink of UKIP. Funny how on both sides of the pond terms like Independent, Patriot, and Libertarian have all essentially become short hand for “White Hegemonic Authoritarianism & Tax-Avoidance”.

      W.H.A.T. is the cancer that is killing the West.

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    det-devil-ailsHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 10:22am

    Ahh, the ‘good ol’ days.’ Quite.

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      Phantom_Renegadedet-devil-ails
      6/23/16 10:36am

      Ah yes, because since Britain has been in the EU, all bad things have gone and disappeared...

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      det-devil-ailsPhantom_Renegade
      6/23/16 10:43am

      Aw, c’mon, PR. Aren’t you British? I thought you people understood dry humor*.

      *’humour?’

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    UngratefulDeadHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:23am

    It’s so weird watching BBC News coverage of UK elections. I mean, all things considered, I’ll take the First Amendment, but it’s a fascinating contrast in this one specific area; I can understand how people there don’t really have a problem with it.

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      Seeseman4UngratefulDead
      6/23/16 9:25am

      can you expand on this a bit? What is so different about the coverage?

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      UngratefulDeadSeeseman4
      6/23/16 9:29am

      From poll open to close they’re not allowed to report anything that might influence the election, from news stories that aren’t of clear broader interest to exit polls. It minimizes situations like U.S. Bernie supporters claiming the AP calling the primary early kept all their constituents at home in California (a fairly dubious claim, but one that you couldn’t even make at all in jolly old England). Basically, all they can say today about the Brexit is that the polls are open and where they are (I’m not sure they can even tell you that you should vote at all).

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    rogboyHamilton Nolan
    6/23/16 9:56am

    As an British ex-pat, watching this shit-show from abroad, I think that regardless of the outcome the fallout for the political parties will be significant. Both the major parties are fairly divided on the stay-leave issue. It will be difficult for each to avoid splitting, given the closeness of the vote and vitriolic rhetoric on both sides. Amusingly, getting a significant number of new political parties will make the country’s government more European in style.

    That photo of the “leave” contingent, at the top of the article, is perfectly representative of them. A bunch of backward looking pensioners and fantasists; why would they care about the economic damage caused by their choice to hark back to some nonexistent glory? Government has pandered to this demographic far too long. They really think that they will get to dictate terms after creating havoc.

    I’m hoping that this vote finally persuades the under 30s in the UK to get off their arses and do something for their own future benefit; stay and participate in the shaping of the future.

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      Krugerrantrogboy
      6/23/16 11:59am

      The cognitive dissonance is amazing. NPR was interviewing an elderly expat Brit living in Spain yesterday, who was voting for remain, but admitted he’d vote to leave if he still lived in England because “they’ve got too many immigrants there.”

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      rogboyKrugerrant
      6/23/16 12:11pm

      even for elderly expat behaviour, that is remarkably selfish. I bet he is one of those Spanish resident British pensioners that demanded they be paid the UK’s winter heating allowance, despite being in Spain.

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