The mask is slipping

And here I thought it was just America. But no, considering the outrage over the “Brexit” vote last week, it’s pretty clear that the United Kingdom has the same problem as America: elites who think they’re so much smarter than everyone else that only their votes should matter. All the various news articles I’ve seen over the last few days seem to carry the same theme in different flavors: “Who let those stupid, selfish people vote?!” Young Brits are mad at elderly Brits for voting for something other than what they youngsters wanted, even though the elderly will just be dying soon anyway, so why should they get their way? Affluent, educated Londoners are mad at working-class outsiders who they feel are too racist, too selfish, too scared of their own shadows to make the right choice. And of course the wealthy politicians and bureaucrats are extremely disappointed by the abject stupidity of the people they’re forced to lead.

At first I thought this was a problem of these elites not understanding the basic concept of democracy: everyone gets an equal say and majority rules. But the more I think about it, these elites are covertly stating their opposition to democracy. They don’t want the common people to be able to vote–those people are too stupid to know what’s good for them! Why couldn’t their forefathers have been smarter and created a government where the elites control everything and everyone else just shuts up, sits down, and accepts it?

These are the analogs of those here in America who get so leg-tingly thrilled over Obama’s “pen and phone” strategy of issuing executive orders whenever he doesn’t get his way. (These are also the same people who are hyperventilating and looking for the closest window to leap from should Donald Trump acquire the same power…go figure!)

Ironically, it’s these same people on both sides of The Pond that claim to speak for and defend the “little people”. Or perhaps it’s not so ironic. They speak for the little people because they don’t want them speaking for themselves. They just know they’re going to say something stupid, and so it’s best to spare them the embarrassment and speak for them.

We’ve seen it plenty of times here in America: Democracy is great and wise when the people agree with what the elite want. When the people want something else they’ll do everything they can to do an end-run around putting it to an open vote. One gets the feeling from reading the Brexit coverage that had the elite realized the vote wouldn’t go their way they would have found some way to rig the game or avoid the vote altogether. For example, after 72% of the population turned out to vote, and about 52% voted to leave, there’s now calls for requiring a second referendum vote–only this time there has to be at least a 75% turnout for the vote to even be valid, and at least 60% should be required for a “Leave the EU” result to be binding.

In other words, “Oops! We didn’t get the result we wanted. Move the goalposts and try again.”

The irony here is that it’s such heavy-handed, condescending treatment by the elites that has fostered such a backlash. People are equally mystified by Trump over here, yet remain completely ignorant (innocently or purposely) of the anti-elite sentiment powering his campaign. People are simply fed up with the self-proclaimed Smart People treating them with condescension and disdain and completely ignoring their interests. I don’t like Trump. I don’t want him in office. But I wash my hands of it all; the elites on the left and right are to blame for Trump. We very nearly had a populist sweep of the primaries with Bernie Sanders, too, but Clinton and Gang knew the rules of the game too well and were able to squeak out a victory that was much narrower than it appeared.

It doesn’t matter–the joke’s on the “unwashed masses” yet again–Clinton and Trump are both elites (Trump just knows how to tap the populist rage better). They’re smarter than you. Sit down, shut up and do as you’re told or they’ll stop letting you vote. You should be thanking them, peons.

P.S. It’s amusing to see so many Americans trying to come to grips with the cognitive dissonance of a European country, which they generally look up to as the height of civilization and wisdom, doing something they think incredibly stupid. I thought it was the sound of people lighting off their Fourth of July fireworks prematurely, but it’s probably a lot of people’s heads exploding.