How so I explain Brexit to Americans?

[Ineedachange]

So currently I'm living in the US. Just occasionally, as a subject change from Trumps and his antics, I will be asked about Brexit.

"I'm seeing it on the news, but I don't understand. So what is Brexit?" I'm questioned. Usually followed up with, "What's the problem if you voted to leave?" To which my answer is; "Much the same as Clinton v Trump. Trump only won it by a small margin".
Now I voted to remain because I thought it was pretty obvious. However when I'm trying to explain to Americans exactly why we're leaving the EU, I'm ashamed to say, I find I am unable to explain why.

I would really appreciate some help to explain it in simple terms, it just seems so complicated now. I'm really struggling to get my head around it.
Are there any Americans able to offer any analogies that might help me?

You voted for Trump, we voted to Leave.

We are all incredibly stupid

You can't, the whole thing is inexplicable.

There is a podcast called 'skeptics with a k'. A guy on that did a very good job of setting out what it's all about this week. I'd give that a listen.

A mess

skeptics with a k? Where would I find that?

Well I voted remain so I am also struggling to work our why people want to leave. If anyone works out what brexit actually is and what it means then I would love to know. Right now all I know is that the government is a mess and we are headed for a disaster!

Britain has some problems, more prevalent in some areas than others, low employment and/or low wages, underfunded NHS, overcrowding, lack of quality school places, pensions crisis. People were misled into believing these problems would be solved by leaving the EU. Some people still believe these problems will be solved by leaving the EU.

It's a bit like Donald Trump believing that the solution to school shootings is to give teachers guns.

Here's the perfect thing OP. www.facebook.com/watch/?v=620578658356033

If you paraphrase the question on The ballot paper as:

" are you happy with the status quo"

You can see how a wide range of people with a wide range of dissatisfactions would have answered "no".

Lots of people voted against austerity/Tories/Cameron and thought they would get a GE if Leave won...didn't work in their favour.

Austerity has a lot to answer for.

Decades of press scapegoating and misrepresenting EU have done their magic on emotional authoritarians.

Main classification of leave voters is an authoritarian ideology.

Sadly if you ask a leaver you still get the vox-pop/jingoistic/half-truths such as EU army/they wanted us to have EURO by 2020/sovereignty/We want to make our own laws/control our own boarders/they need us more than we need them...they haven't really thought much more on the reality that it's not true.

@NuffsaidSam - that's a pretty objective, comprehensive answer. I could use that. Thanks

@LonelyandTiredandLow its such a sore subject now I daren't even ask the couple of leavers I know.

Brexit is like texit- if Texas voted to leave the United States and be a solo state, having to trade with the other states and set its own trade agreements

I talk to one every day. She still talks about nazi's on a regular basis and repeats all of the points I just mentioned, despite admitting over the 2.5yrs individually they weren't quite 'right' - seems to forget when she gets "in the zone" and rants again on a loop

Oh yes, wasn't California thinking of doing similar?

So, Brexit is the UK deciding to leave a cohesive union of European states which allows things like free movement, adherence to EU human rights laws and the free market (gives us access to the whole EU market with fewer restrictions easing access).

The problem with leaving is that it was done mostly by people who believed lies: they believed that more money would go to the NHS, that we would stop letting in dangerous criminals and that it would be relatively easy. This was all lies and it has cost us billions, we've got a bad deal and the people who are pushing it generally either have something to gain politically or are the disenchanted poor.

BlackPrism - I get this, this makes it so obvious.
I was waiting for a 'Leaver' to pop and explain it in a way that might help me explain why 48% were convinced to vote Leave... and not make us sound so stupid.

Nearly every day an American apologises or expresses to me their embarassment for Trump. We can't take the moral high ground though, we just as screwed misguided.

I have noticed that Judges here in the US in order to be careful in their wording tend strongly to use the words " appears " or " seems ".

So if a jury finds someone guilty of a crime, the Judge doesn't usually state that the person is guilty of that crime, only that the jury " found " that person to be guilty based upon the available evidence.

None of us are God and have absolute knowledge of why a person or people did a particular thing, we only know our own perception, and what to us appears or seems to be.

You might then say something like, " Well the UK, particularly the English seem to be tired of being an equal among equals in the EU and want to separate themselves from it in an attempt to re-create the British Empire or something very close to it. At least that is how it appears to me. ".

Now a leaver might say you are wrong, that is not why they ( as an individual anyway ) voted to leave. Your perception though rightly or wrongly can't be helped, you are not saying you know exactly why every leaver voted to leave, only what your perception of the reasoning as a whole seemed to you to be.

If a person then says " Well that doesn't make any sense !!! " you might then say " Yea, I know, that's why 48% of the voters voted against it. ".

If your friends can watch Samantha Bee Full Frontal, her British colleague did a good summary recently. It's on YouTube. I know that not everyone can tolerate watching her but it was pretty accurate.

The leavers I know (I’m not one btw!) talk about sovereignty- how we should be able to make and enforce our own laws, and not be overruled by the EU.

Demographically, leave voters are more likely to be the older generation who remember the British empire. In that respect it’s very similar to Trump’s “make America great again” slogan.

We had a vote,TM called an election and lost seats (dementia tax etc) which meant she couldn't implement what she wanted. And the Good Friday agreement has restrictions which no one considered when deciding to Brexit, making it very difficult to Brexit.
So we are where we are.

It is fully analogous to Trump.

Rich, white men blame immigrants to arouse the economically vulnerable. For some reason, the economically vulnerable believe that rich, white men are looking after their best interests (Trump, Boris, Jacob RM, Ian Duncan Smith).

We forgot that the referendum occurred in the context of the Syrian refugee crisis. Remember Nigel Farage's picture of the refugees pouring into the UK? It is just like Trump's wall, only worse.

Keep it simple, a big fuck up.

I like Randoms response 😂 quite true.