The man stood in a crowded, cramped room. It was well past the middle of the night - closer to daybreak than whenever the last late show wrapped up. He and everyone around him just emerged from a long, grueling day. Nonetheless, their energy was palpable.
Who needs sleep when your nation’s future is on the line?
“Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom,” he began.
The room erupted, cries of glee bouncing off the bare white walls and low ceiling.
“This, this, if the predictions now are right, this will be a victory for real people,” he continued. “A victory for ordinary people. A victory for decent people. We have fought - we have fought against the multinationals, we’ve fought against the big merchant banks, we fought against big politics, we fought against lies, corruption, and deceit, and today honesty, decency, and belief in nation - I think now is going to win!”
The cheers resumed. Lights flashed. One young man behind the speaker even jumped up and down. All parties concerned were dressed for business - like they should have been. The business they were tending to was, and is, serious as it gets.
When the jubilation settled, the man of the hour resumed: “And we will have done it, we will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired. We’ll have done it by damned hard work on the ground...by people in the Labour Party, and the Conservative Party, and UKIP, and of no party who’ve taken part in this campaign and will have done it not just for ourselves. We’ll have done it for the whole of Europe.”
European Union member countries, to be exact. Note that Labour = Democrats, Conservatives = Republicans, and UKIP = America First patriots.
“I hope this victory brings down this failed project,” he said of the EU, “and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nation-states trading together, being friends together, cooperating together, and let’s get rid of the [EU] flag, the anthem, Brussels, and all that has gone wrong.”
Cheering. Clapping. Chanting. Smiles - not just of happiness, but deep and abiding hope for a future that, until then, looked gloomier than ever.
“Let,” the orator declared, struggling to be heard above his crowd’s jubilation, “let June the 23rd go down in our history as our Independence Day!”
Fever-pitch cheers from the crowd. So ended the speech - short, sweet, and to the point.
This is what a real revolution looks like. Needless to mention, the speaker, Nigel Farage, is a bona fide revolutionary. The United Kingdom Independence Party’s longtime leader, he has braved anything from death threats to accusation of criminal ‘hate speech’ to media harassment for unabashedly supporting a sovereign Britain.
When all was said and done, though, the people of England and Wales ---- along with many from Ulster and Scotland ---- saw through the horse manure and stood with him.
For the long term, Brexit is fantastic by every standard imaginable. However, in one key regard, it is truly exceptional. Before now, few seriously believed that a silent majority of citizens would arise to stem the tide of globalism.
Free trade, perpetual immigration, lower wages, nationwide cultural erosion, bloated bureaucracy, and political correctness are the hallmarks of EU governance. They also constitute the credo of America’s smart set, whether its members reside in Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Manhattan, or elsewhere.
Brexit is a defeat for the international globalist establishment, not simply a few poor souls in Brussels and their London lackeys.
Hopefully the tide of civic nationalism will reach American shores over coming weeks and months. All of that should be manifested in the victory of Donald Trump this November. Although polls currently leave him in a bad spot, most surveys deemed Brexit up the creek.Things looked so bad that Farage conceded right after the polls closed.
If the man who built his career on the silent majority cannot predict its actions, how might anybody else?
Voting for Brexit or Trump is essentially the same thing. A ballot cast to make your homeland great again needs no further explanation.
Joseph Cotto is a historical and social journalist, and writes about politics, economics and social issues. Email him at joseph.f.cotto@gmail.com