The media and the pundits like convenient narratives. They like to put things in boxes so they can talk about them without nuance. That is why we will see a concerted effort to stereotype Brexiteers as a protest vote akin with Trump supporters. It's entirely bogus. They want us labelled so they can negate us.
If they can put it in a box labelled "Daily Mail" they can pretend it's a bunch of little englanders who want to wind the clock back. It's actually a clever tactic and it works. But all tactics have a limited lifespan. Largely because this time it's too big to ignore. If leave loses it will be a by a margin of less than ten per cent. Brexit will not be taken off the table by a remain vote.
Moreover, to paint ordinary people as bigots and to belittle their concerns is always a mistake. We are told that Brexiteers are reactionary and that Brexit is an emotional position rather than a logical one. It isn't, but so what if it is? Whoever people feel should be their government and who should be in charge is every bit a spiritual question as it is an economic or political one. Identity matters. Perhaps more than it should.
But there is some truth in that Brexit is rejectionism. And that's why I am with the Brexiteers. As much as I am voting to reject the EU as a supreme government, I am voting against the people who are voting for it. And while that puts me on the same side as Farage for roughly the same reasons, I couldn't be more at odds with Farage either.
I'm voting to leave because I see through the hollow posturing and the virtue signalling. I am utterly jaded with the buzzwords of the political class. You know the europhile jargon as well as I do. Stale empty rhetoric we've heard since 1975. All designed for the projection of virtue - and by way of polarisation label those who disagree as necessarily bad.
We are dealing with political tribes who have forgotten who they serve or even why they seek power. Their willingness to cede power to the EU tells us they seek not even to wield power - only to occupy the offices of state for its own sake. It's merely tribal supremacy - for the ones in office get to distribute the goodies among their core constituents. It has next to nothing to do with governance. That much is outsourced.
The referendum campaign itself is all the proof you need. With the entire establishment, what ME Synon calls "the protected", all closing ranks to protect the status quo tells us one thing. This referendum is about the tribes and those still caught in the delusion, and those who have seen through them. It's just a hunch but say the battle lines were drawn along the lines of those who get their news from the internet and those who get it from the television.
There are of course people who still think this is an economic issue and don't see a problem with ceding sovereignty, but that's all part of the same problem; A public deprived of democracy for so long they've forgotten what it means to have it - and won't recognise what it is until they see it for real. To them we're all cranks. Dinosaurs who believe in "antiquated" ideas like sovereignty and democracy.
And that is why this referendum is a culture war as much as it is anything else. The soft left orthodoxy of renewable energy, climate change and political correctness are all devices used for the infringement of liberty and control of thought - to create a minefield that impedes political resistance. We see the same dynamics in play. "The science is settled" when it comes to climate change just as Leavers have "lost the economic argument" because prestigious institutes say so. The tyranny of experts on the payroll and those who believe them.
As it happens, the demagogues and blowhards who end up leading the insurgent charge are usually as bad as the opposition say they are, but since they control the agenda, they control who gets a say. And it's always the cranks and never the sane voices. That is how articles of faith go unchallenged on the BBC. The "Norway has no influence" meme is spoken though it were unassailable fact. Volumes have been written about the globalisation of single market rules yet it remains entirely unexplored by mainstream media. Why? They don't want to know and they don't want to complicate the issues.
And so in all this, good, moderate and intelligent people are silenced and left without a voice and without representation in popular political discourse. But there's a price. And that price is continued political decay and toxified public debate. That's why a Remain vote fixes nothing. They have used every trick in the book to beat down an insurrection but the brazen way in which they have done it has not gone unnoticed. Even if we lose, the Brexit brigade are stronger now than they have been for years and they are not going away. And we'll win. And here's why.
A remain vote will prove nothing. It won't be a mandate or a vote of confidence in the EU. All it says is that Vote Leave's bid was insufficient to take the risk. And between now and the next referendum, what this campaign has brought to light will be there for all to see. The EU is hamstrung by its own dogma and crippled by its own bureaucratic inertia. It will create yet more problems and will expose our government as powerless to respond. Those who voted against Brexit just because they dislike Farage and Gove will rapidly realise the gravity of their mistake.
And the young'uns? Well, they'll get a taste of what a labour government looks like in due course. And will see first hand what a bunch of despotic incompetent wastrels they really are. And they will see that simply changing the tribe in office does nothing without fixing the root causes.
When that day comes, the minefield will be so thick, with so many boobytraps, that people will simply cease to care. They will say what needs to be said. When nothing can be said, all will be said. What is there to lose?
Our system of tribal politics is on a countdown to extinction. Their mandate is eroding fast. The game is up, their secrets are out and we have turned a corner. We have seen Cameron and the left of the Conservative party for what they are. Self-serving, unprincipled liars. And we have seen Labour for what they are. Envious, nasty, posturing hypocrites. Their lies are transparent and their promises worthless. They have no ideas, they have no answers. They have lost their way.
We will see the system eat itself. We'll have tried every last half baked idea in the book to restore some kind of balance and bring the people back into the fold. It won't work. Soon after it will be inescapable to all that the solution is the one that has been staring us in the face all this time. Democracy. And for that to happen we will have to remove the main obstacle. That is when we will leave the EU.
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