If you’ve ever wondered why I have written so little about Brexit, the answer is simple. I don’t think it’s any of my business (or Americans’ business more generally), I don’t know enough about British politics to weigh in, and I don’t think that the U. S. has a great deal of stake in the matter.
My question would be why do American pundits write so much about it? You’re not English, you don’t understand the issues, and it’s no skin off your nose.
Since when do you need to know anything about a topic to write about it? Pundits left and right just cherry pick bits they can use, not really caring if they have it correct to prove whatever point they want to prove.
Steve
Seemed to matter to Obama and the rest of his brain trust so, not surprizing to read the chattering class follow. Then there is the train wreck aspects of May’s maneuvering.
I guess how you gauge Brexit’s importance depends on what you think the experiment we have conducted for the last 70 years in Europe has been. I don’t think that either the EU or the euro are central to it but I gather that the Obama Administration did.
Pundits talk about Brexit for the same reason they talk about the Yellow Vests. Is there a relation between the discontent that has roiled the politics of all three countries?
Yes, it is proper for Americans to be cautious to interpret US politics from the lens of Brexit or U.K. politics from President Trump.
But Brexit will affect American discourse, the US and U.K. share a common language and the U.K. is the most influential in English discourse after the US.
At the current course, the US may have the typical issues facing friends to a couple in a breakup / divorce; trying to develop cordial relations with both sides without alienating the other. Between the U.K. and the E.U., between Ireland and the U.K.
I think The E.U. is like the League of Nations: otherwise intelligent and decent Europeans erupt into violent and murderous spasms far too often. It’s an attempt to contain this, and Brexit is a crack in the wall of containment. Like you, I don’t know how it will turn out, and it’s not my business.