Brexit Shows Common Sense of British People

As a precocious 12-year-old growing up in Great Britain, I remember, in 1975, being violently opposed in our school mock referendum to Britain joining what was then called the EEC — the European Economic Community.

I see how remarkably similar is the massive rejection of the establishment in our two nations.

Years later, in the mid-1980s, I remember standing in the street in Canterbury, as French President Francois Mitterrand and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the accord to open the Channel tunnel — the “chunnel” — that effectively removed Britain’s island status, joining us, at least physically, to Europe.

People were shouting in the streets: “Vivent les Etats-Unis d’Europe,” or “Long Live the United States of Europe!”

The fact that I was a seminarian, studying for the Catholic priesthood, is the only thing that stopped me from using profane language and from punching the poor deluded fools.

So can you imagine the joy I felt in seeing the EU Brexit votes come in early this morning. They were votes from my home city of Canterbury in favor of the restoration of British sovereignty, a vote to leave — a vote for independence. And President Mitterrand must have been turning in his grave.

Related: Why Faith Matters in the Brexit Vote

Watching the coverage of the Brexit from the relative calm of the United States — but not as a disinterested observer — I was struck by two powerful emotions. This is despite the fact that I have lived in this great nation — the last, best, hope for democracy on this earth, though gravely imperiled right now — for nearly 17 years. First, I feel tremendous pride in the common sense of the ordinary British people, who failed to be scared or swayed by the pundits and the scaremongers; those people had predicted everything from economic meltdown to the bubonic plague if Britain were to leave the EU. And second, I see how remarkably similar is the massive rejection of the establishment in our two nations.

Watching the coverage, it quickly became clear to me that apart from a couple of guests on the British networks, all the media commentators were part of the Establishment that was being rejected. They will, of course, be the last both to realize this and to accept it.

A free people, given the opportunity, will always make the right choice, even if it is a difficult choice that brings short-term hardships.

As Americans approach the great national holiday and the celebration of the independence of the United States of America, there should be universal rejoicing that this country’s former colonial oppressors have finally awoken to the vitality, and glory, of the rejection of the usurpation and domination of the bureaucracy of Brussels — the most grotesque bureaucracy since the Soviet Union. There is a sense that a free people, given the opportunity, will always make the right choice, even if it is a difficult choice that brings short-term hardships.

Britain has stood alone before — but she will not be alone with this vote to leave the European super-state.

This is a vote that rejects the lie that refused to accept Christianity in the European Constitution. It is a vote that rejects the lie, forced on Europeans for almost half a century, of multiculturalism. It is a vote that accepts the right of sovereign states — both to have borders, and laws to enforce those borders.

It is a vote, most profoundly, for the reality of national culture, not an ugly thing, not racist — but part of the rich tapestry of humanity, which is far more attractive in a beautiful collage, rather than a Brussels-directed and enforced monochrome.

Father Ben Kiely is a Catholic priest and founder of Nasarean.org, which is helping the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. He is based in Stowe, Vermont.