In it for the long haul

There's the Brexit I argued for and then there's the Brexit we're getting. The former was a good idea, the latter... not so much.

In light of this there are those who think I ought to switch to remain. That's not going to happen. The public were consulted on a fundamental constitutional question of who governs them. This is not something we can second guess. The die is cast.

What brings us to this point is a fundamental mistrust of parliament in that they would stop Brexit in a heartbeat if they could, therefore asserting their own judgement over that of the broader public and in so doing broadcasting loudly to the world that they only implement referendum results they like.

We have seen how the remainer establishment has pulled every possible string to try and stop Brexit in what has become an all out culture war. Every time the remainers have exerted their political influence they have made it a magnitude worse. they could have conceded defeated and voted for a withdrawal agreement but instead they played double or quits and now we have Boris Johnson as PM and a looming no deal Brexit. Now we meet a little thing called consequences.

If you've even halfway understood the issues then you know that no deal is super bad news for the UK economy. The regulator instability it creates along with new barriers to trade and a raft of new tariffs make life difficult enough, which could be further exacerbated by ill chosen mitigation measures such as unilateral trade liberalisation.

This is where we should have seen MPs engaging in the details and getting to grips with the issues and shouting it from the rooftops but the full extent of the damage is beyond their comprehension. But then it wouldn't do any good. With the media having debased itself, sensationalising the worst case scenario, leavers just don't trust what they are told.

But then it wouldn't matter if they did believe it all. Most of them are past caring. I for one am tired of having to refight the referendum, not knowing when or if we will ever leave while enduring insult after insult from the sanctimonious remainer bigots. We really have heard it all now - from casual accusations of racism to veiled suggestions that leavers share in the culpability of US mass shootings.

Leavers have now got the message. The great and the good, those in supremely privileged positions not only hate Brexit but actively despise their fellow countrymen and always have. They are not used to democracy having to bend to the will of those normally excluded from it.

Furthermore there is a certain naivety to the remain camp who, if we take them at their own words, genuinely believed that the UK circa 2012 was an open, progressive society at peace with itself. What are they smoking? Of course, were you to visit any of the remainer strongholds in the UK it's easy to understand why they think this. Affluent places where the only foreigners you see are wealthy students. What these people are essentially fighting for is the preservation of their own privileges. It has next to nothing to do with the EU and what the EU actually is. After four years of this it's easy to see how this became a blood feud.

Ultimately the smug, superior, sanctimonious voice of remain is the voice of the current establishment and though I detest the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson, and I'm worried over no deal and what it will do to jobs and wider economy, I would sooner risk it all just to put these people back in their place - because that's exactly what they've been trying to do to leavers for the last four years - to put us back in our place, to silence our voice and return to their peaceful self-indulgent slumber.

I would have preferred a managed departure, but essentially that was never possible with a parliament determined to defy the public. I struggled with my conscience as to what my view would be if it ever came down to no deal versus remain - as evidenced elsewhere on this blog, watching and waiting for a third way but now we are at that moment of decision.

Here it comes down to the question of whether there is anything about the status quo I care enough about to save. I'm drawing a blank on that one. Ok so Scotland might quit the union but all we get from Scotland is anti-English bile and histrionics over Northern Ireland don't move me much when they're still slaughtering each other anyway, and as for Brexit stealing the futures of the young, please don't make me laugh. Anyone under forty is screwed anyway.

As illustrated in previous posts, the UK has major structural problems in the economy which then raises questions about the viability and sustainability of the welfare state as we know it - with people not saving, not contributing to pensions and paying obscene rents for most of their lives. Meanwhile, food prices are creeping up with shrinkflation more noticeable than ever.

Though I'm certain this crop of Tories will do nothing to correct any of this, there is at least the opportunity for change which would not otherwise happen. If you want to call that a reckless gamble then so be it but I don't see how the status quo, still largely dominated by the politics of the progressive establishment is going to improve things economically or culturally.

We can remorselessly take the piss out of those leavers who tell us that we just need to believe in ourselves, to a point they are right. There is always opportunity in chaos and we might stumble on a way that works better. Society needs change in order to innovate and as far as culture goes, we are suffocating precisely because our politics, through the EU is geared to prevent change.

I'm not generally one to say let the chips fall where they may and Brexiters do seem to display a frightening disregard for reality, and I think there will be a price for that. I don't think Johnson will see a second term. Much is contingent on Labour ditching Corbyn and getting its act together, but sooner or later we will establish a new normal we can build on. But like many Brexiters (probably most of them) I'm looking at this in the longer term, not as a question of economics, but one of the sort of society I want to see.

It's clear now that we are approaching the fag end of liberalism and the institutions of yore are collapsing. It's up to us now to decide what comes next. For all the histrionics about a violent swing to the right, that only really works on liberals and progressives. It's not something I fear especially when you look at the state of the modern left whose main agenda is opening up women's loos to sexual predators and the destruction of Israel. Bollocks to that.

My question to remainers is simply this: What would you do instead of Brexit that we haven't already tried? Whenever I ask this the replies are always depressingly predictable - and more of the same, lacking in imagination and ambition.

It's interesting that I should have acquired a reputation as a "moderate leaver" in that I'm a fierce critic of the Brexit blob and their misapprehensions but I have always entertained the notion of a no deal Brexit - just not for the "free trade" reasons advanced by the blob. I've always been consistent about the need for a political and cultural reboot and though we are going to end up paying more for it than we ever needed to, I still prefer a no deal Brexit to the alternatives.

Don't get me wrong, I do not welcome Borisconi or his band of cronies and I am certain they will make every avoidable error, but we can wait them out. Their bad ideas have to be tested and it won't take too long for all to see they have no idea what they're doing. After that, we can have the real conversation about the Britain we want after Brexit. We're in this for the long haul and it has to get worse before it gets better.