The United Kingdom decided last Thursday to permanently sever its long membership of the European Union. 51.9 percent of UK voters voted to leave against 48.1 percent to remain in the EU, the most ambitious Western political project of the postwar era.
Many Americans hearing the news for the first time asked, “Does it matter to me?” The answer is a resounding “Yes!” because Brexit forecasts a global trend that threatens the United States as well. Historically, the British have taken the first leap into the political unknown.
Americans are familiar with the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the rise of neoconservatism that has dominated the right of our politics. But Margaret Thatcher was there first. The Iron Lady won the British general election of 1979, promising the privatization of state-owned enterprises and social housing, paired with lower taxes and spending.
With resounding cries of There Is No Alternative (TINA) to unregulated, financialized capitalism, this economic ideology has dominated global institutions and domestic budgets. With Thatcher’s radical idea, income inequality has multiplied and social safety nets have been slashed, hurting the working classes most severely.
While most Brexit supporters are not politically far-right, its most vocal personalities are, including Nigel Farage, the immigrant-bashing leader of UKIP, who in 2014 said that women are “worthless” at work after taking maternity leave. Members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party who advocated for Brexit tend towards the right wing of the party, including Boris Johnson, the co-leader of the Leave campaign and Cameron’s potential successor.
Going into the campaign, most moderate pundits and experts thought that Remain would win in a landslide, but they were wrong. The Leave campaign preyed on the fears of working class and older voters: the “rising tide of immigration” (that actually contributes to the economic growth of the UK), the anti-intellectualism that Leave used to paint the EU as run by undemocratic “Eurocrats,” and fears of being pulled into an “ever-closer” political union with the EU (which Britain could have easily vetoed).
The working class, the less educated, and white voters were won over by fearmongering. They had to “take back control” from Brussels because they were told they were losing their national heritage. This xenophobic, nativist rhetoric targeted the genuine insecurities of the British public.
Doesn’t this all sound familiar? In the United States, we are witnessing the insurgent campaign of Donald Trump and his allies, fueled by fear. The Brexit referendum was fought in much the same way. The UK is an ethnically diverse society, much like our own. But because Remain supporters lacked a positive message of Britain’s role in the EU and instead ran a fear campaign just like Leave, they lost. No one “important” thought Brexit would happen. No one “educated” thought that a campaign bashing immigration would actually win in a multicultural Britain that just elected its first Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
The Brexit referendum should be a wake-up call to American voters, especially young people. No one “important” or “educated” thinks that Trump can win. Republicans are hoping he gets dumped at the convention, and Democrats are certain that Hillary Clinton will win in a landslide.
But why are they so certain? Polls have become less accurate as people abandon landline phones. Voters in America feel betrayed by a do-nothing political elite. As the labor movement in the US continues to decline, the rise of Trump and Bernie Sanders is indicative of the pain that these voters feel. The educated and powerful dismiss the concerns of the working classes because they don’t fit into the elite’s narrative of America. The elite say “There is no alternative,” but the people say “We need a radical alternative now.” How can a Johns Hopkins student tell a cashier who never finished high school that it will all be ok if we just wait a little more?
If those fighting Trumpism are always against and never for, they will not win. The elite cannot campaign for the status quo because no one wants it, not on the left or the right. The working classes are under attack, but they still vote, especially the elderly. While young people aged 18 to 25 voted overwhelmingly Remain, according to polling data, at around 75 percent, voters over 65 overwhelmingly voted Leave, at around 60 percent.
Progressive Americans must run a positive campaign to defeat the forces of right wing populism. We must create concrete paths forward, be pro-diversity and fight for what we want. We cannot run a campaign of fear because Trump and his allies are better at it. If we don’t take the fight into our own hands, we’ll lose, and that would be a great shame.
Will Anderson is a junior and one of the Editors-in-Chief.
