Tag: brexit

Voting for what you believe in

Yes. It’s clear that people voting for Brexit had no plan, and yes that is frustrating, however do you blame them?

To put it in context, think of something you really want to buy. Take 10 seconds…

Now what if I told you there’s a possibility you could have it, but we’re not sure how yet… would you pursue it or leave in the vain hope that the opportunity may crop up again.

If it wasn’t a material thing, what if it was a social change, or a vote to show you wanted believed in something controversial but would make things better. You’d have to vote for it, even if it was slightly blind.

The vote to leave was based on people wanting to leave, possibly irrespective of a plan. Yes it sucks, yes it’s causing Britain to need martial law and potential food shortages but… if people hadn’t have voted that way wouldn’t they have been told they’re silly for not voting for it and “that was their chance”, only, who’s to say if they’d have had that chance again?

Breaking democracy?

What was the point in voting in the first place?

Shouldn’t MP’s respect the outcome of the refurendum?

A second vote would destory confidence in government.

Well these are all seemingly correct statements but in today’s modern world I can’t help but feel they’re out of touch still.

A second vote to me would mean being reactive to change, would mean being more Agile around our government and choices. It’s possible to both accept the referendum, but also be smart and accept and act on the fact it’s going to cause significant disruption.

Yes. People voted out, the Leave team won that. Done. Dusted. However, to ignore the result of that choice, i.e., businesses are leaving the country, the NHS not getting that extra money… wouldn’t it be better to avoid a massive mistake rather than following it blindly? It’s possible that people who voted leave are comfortable with the what’s at stake, do not see it as a mistake and value the nation’s independence a lot more so want it to continue.

But really what is everyone afraid of? A second vote doesn’t have to be a “best of three” and it doesn’t have to be seen as a democratic fail. It’s a complete democratic win, it’s a chance to say, “well here we are and is this what we wanted?”. In fact, it’s more democratic to ask again since so much has seemingly changed since the initial vote. The people get to choose, do they want the deal and the UK’s freedom, or do they want to stick with the bigger European picture?

You wouldn’t dream of carrying on something so un-settling in any local club you were part of without checking with the members on the way, so why should government be any different? Yes we honour the vote, but also we honour our own smarts’ and not forge ahead blindly.

This really is an opportunity for a more democratic UK government, and it could be embraced as a win for all. It’s not breaking democracy, it’s making democracy.