Thoughts on the sociology of Brexit
I don&#x27;t think this article, or many of the other articles, accurately portray the mindset of leave voters.<p>Firstly, I&#x27;d like to start off with saying yes: there are many problems to leaving the EU, but consequently there are also many positives. This isn&#x27;t a one sided issue. There is an array of reasons to vote either side.<p>One of my older British friends that I used to work with consistently held the following opinion:<p>&gt; Me: Do you think Britain will exit?<p>&gt; Friend: I sure hope we do [...] We never wanted into the EU in the first place, back in the 80&#x27;s. The whole population was up in arms about it [...]. Our politicians refused to join unless we got certain exceptions. Like keeping our own money and a few other things. Now we are financially supporting the EU. Too many idiots in government though.<p>&gt; Me: Looks like you&#x27;ve voted to leave! Also, the currency has fallen. I&#x27;m going to buy some GBP tomorrow when it hits 1.30 USD to 1 GBP. I&#x27;ll sell it to make a quick buck.<p>&gt; Friend: Finally. We only joined because our then prime minister John Major forced us to join. We didn&#x27;t even elect the dude, he took over after Maggie Thatcher left. The pound will recover fast, so stock up now :)<p>Now, I&#x27;m not saying that he is right about everything, although I do trust his judgement, but I will say that I feel he accurately represents most of the 40+ group&#x27;s opinions on the EU.<p>His age group feels:<p><pre><code>  - EU is an amorphous blob that has no accountability to it&#x27;s actions 
  - EU is redundant 
  - The VAT that is set by the EU is antithetical to good trade deals 
  - Sending any amount of money to an organization you do not support is out of the question
  - Undemocratic (Unellected officials draft the laws, people from other countries vote on things that directly effect you)
  - The EU is making a push to blur country boarders to the best of it&#x27;s efforts
  - The migrant crisis&#x27; effects on the UK are a byproduct of how the EU operates
</code></pre>
As far as I can tell, all of these points are either real problems with the EU or will soon become real problems for the EU. I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s outrageous to say that, and I definitely don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s crazy to want to leave an organization like this. This is exacerbated by the fact that, as it seems, Britain is the least-EU like country in the EU currently. Their cultural and social values are very different from the many other cultures that are in the EU. Due to this, they are often on the loosing side of agreements (almost 70% from the last figure I saw [0])<p>What is really worrying to me is that people are now saying &quot;You&#x27;re old, so your vote shouldn&#x27;t count.&quot; This is a trend I see more and more. I feel it&#x27;s crazy to say something like that, but it definitely speaks volumes for where our western societies are headed in the next few years.<p>In the end, this won&#x27;t really change much either way. The UK has one of the worlds largest economies and now they can make trade deals to encourage buys from around the world to come to their door step. I know that I&#x27;m sure ready to buy some British-made food items in the USA (It&#x27;s been a while since I was able to get someone to send me more marmite).
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