This referendum should never have happened. People are saying "that's democracy", "the will of the people has spoken", "if we don't see this vote thru we can't pontificate about democracy to countries like China" and similar justifcations for sticking to the outcome. I can't help but feel these people don't understand the profound consequences leaving will have on future generations. What's even more frustrating is that this vote was won on blatant lies, ignorance and a dislike of foreigners.
The out result has only fuelled nationalism and made open racism mainstream again. If I was a foreigner looking to work or study in England, I'd be looking elsewhere. Leaving the EU just has disaster written all over it, yet we're following it thru because " that's democracy". I don't get it, we know the UK will be worse off as a nation outside of the EU, but we will rigidly stick to the outcome because we pride ourself on being democratic - even if it makes the nation worse off. Will people still be proud to live in a democracy when England is nothing but small isolated island and their children have been condemned to poorer living standards/economic hardship and the far-right have a stronger foothold in mainstream politics?
Clinging to the principle that the people have spoken and we have to respect seems absurd in this case especially when a lot of those people are utterly ignorant.
It's such a profound life changing decision that won't make us better off. Imo, the very desire to seperate ourselves has already done irreversible damage to our reputation and perception on the world stage. Will anyone actually give a flying fucking about respecting democracy when life in the UK goes downhill? Leaving isn't going to help the people who wanted to leave as they will also bear the brunt of the economic side-effects. By leaving such people have only opted to plunge themselves into more hardship. Is all of this worth it tho just so we can cling onto our principle of democracy?
We know this isn't a great idea and yet we're going ahead because a bunch of thick people "want their country back" and we have to respect it because that's democracy man. It's like the religious fanatic who blows himself because he will not be moved from his beliefs - we're clinging to democracy in the same way.