An American In Britain on Brexit

Although I am an American, having married a British woman, I now spend half my time in the UK, the other half in NY.

This has given me, I think, an interesting insight into the seemingly never-ending drama/soap opera that is Brexit.

Tonight, at 11 PM GMT, we will witness the season closer.

In New York, I live in a glass and steel high rise at ground zero in Manhattan, just across the street from Rockefeller Center on one side and down the street from Donald Trump on the other. I can see both from my apartment.

In Britain, I live in Dale Abbey, a tiny village in Derbyshire. We have a population of about 40 in the inner village, where I live. Greater Dale Abbey has, so I am old, close to 100. We have three streets, two of which are dead ends, a dozen or so houses, a church and a pub. We also have a lot of sheep, dogs and cows and endless verdant green fields.

You could not find a greater contrast.

Although I think a majority of my village voted for Brexit, there is no celebration today on Britain’s new ‘freedom’. As I am in the media business, most of my friends outside the village vote to remain. For them there is sadness and acceptance. No one is dancing in the streets anywhere here. In a very British way, they are simply ‘getting on with it’.

From my own perspective, Brexit is a tragedy, both for Britain and for Europe. I reach this conclusion not based on the economic impact, which no one knows but which does not look particularly promising, but rather from an historical perspective.

For Americans, World War 2 exists largely on The History Channel. The Atlantic removed the United States from any real impact in the war, save Pearl Harbor. The US came out of the was unscathed.

Not so Europe. Not so Britain.

Between 1914 and 1945, the nations of Europe pretty much succeeded in burning their world to the ground. Europe, which had been on the cutting edge of science, technology, the arts, manufacturing, finance, education, literature, you name it, basically destroyed themselves.

By September 1945, almost every major city from Berlin to London was a smoldering heap of ash, which pretty much matched the condition of almost every European country.

This was nothing new. European nations had been at war with each other since the Romans decamped in 476 AD. Germans against Russians, English against French. Spanish against the Dutch. French against the Austrians. On and on, endless war after war after war. It was the general condition of Europe for 1500 years.

In 1945, Europeans had succeeded in pretty much destroying everything. This was due, more than anything else, to the new technologies of the 20th Century.

It was one thing to fight with swords or lances or long bows. It was quite another to fight with tanks and machine guns and airplanes.

So standing in the rubble of their long and glorious civilization, the Europeans post World War 2 had the courage, and it took a lot of courage, to put aside 1500 years of hatred and killing and warfare and say, “We are not going to do this any longer. We are going to find a way to unite.”

And they did.

Until tonight.

When one of the key players in the European story since 500 AD takes a walk on the rest of Europe.

It is a mistake

It is a tragedy

And it has nothing to do with trade agreements or Brussels.

It has everything to do with the grand sweep of history and the ability to grow, mature and change.

Or maybe not.