The Implications of Brexit

I

'll concede that I am rather surprised at the Brexit vote result which takes Great Britain out of the European Union. On the other hand, xenophobia and racism are powerful and illogical forces. I'm convinced that returning to an island mentality keeping out the stranger was at the heart of this decision, even though Brit John Donne famously said that "no man is an island", and presumably no nation either. All of the major parties were in favour of staying in the EU, to no avail. Murdered MP Jo Cox, an advocate for refugees and progressive immigration policies, becomes a martyr to a failed cause. PM David Cameron is out, but he started this fiasco in the first place.

Will the EU survive? Wags are now referring to Swedone and Italeavia and Portugone. We won't rush to judgement but this decision will affect the union.

Some environmentalists were deeply concerned that a choice to leave the EU would result in lax environmental laws and a movement away from a common approach to combatting climate change. While George Monbiot, author of the book Feral, was in favour of staying he also wondered whether exiting might get Britain out from under the huge EU subsidies paid to landowners. There are considerable incentives to keep land as agriculture in designation, even if it isn't being farmed. The outcome of this policy is that land is not allowed to revert to a natural state and in countries such as Romania forests are being clearcut to gain the subsidies.

I was interested to see that the Church of England (the Anglicans) was cautious in naming a side, but criticized just the same for this rather diplomatic prayer issued prior to the vote:

God of truth,
give us grace to debate the issues in this referendum
with honesty and openness.
Give generosity to those who seek to form opinion
and discernment to those who vote,
that our nation may prosper
and that with all the peoples of Europe
we may work for peace and the common good;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

What are your thoughts about the outcome of the vote? Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed the outcome, which is very scary.