What would have happened if there was no Brexit, but a different exit or some other political problem in the EU?

[ChocolateSantaisthebestkind]

We were a Remain household during the Ref. and are still pro EU

I have been thinking about this a lot over the last 4 years, what could have happened if another state had chosen to leave rather than the UK or if a state had a despotic leader all of a sudden (think Hitler in the early 30's for example)? As all of the negatives of Brexit are coming home, particularly drug, food and water, power security it's made me think what would have happened in those kinds of situations? I know that democracy and mutual dependence are elements of the idea, but these are not a total safeguards. Hitler was initially elected. It just makes me think that whilst we should work together, we should never make ourselves reliant on others for key securities, in or out of the EU.

Not sure about your point. Where is this European Hitler going to come from.
Yes, there are some nasty right wing shits like Orban in power but that's not militaristic fascism. Don't you think people would notice?

Well, Hitler, who was European btw if you are going to be snarky, appeared insidiously and it took a while for many people to notice....

But my point is more that what if something other than Brexit happened and supply lines became blocked or interrupted? Would that not be dangerous/ problematic? In the wrong hands it could really damage the block. So even in partnership, should not all states individually ensure that their access to water, food, power and drugs, as well as collectively.

I'm a general prepper so I'm pretty much across this possibility.

But Hitler rose to power in a system which was nothing like modern Western democracies where the rule of law and a free press generally spot that kind of thing. There were no Human Rights laws established. In fact they were set up across Western Europe in response to it.

The situation you imagine is more likely to involve a state outside of the EU, so a collapse of the Chinese state for example or a very isolationist POTUS, pulls out of NATO, WTO & the UN.

In this case, being in a bloc of trading countries might be better than being outside.

Hitler rose to power in a system which was nothing like modern Western democracies where the rule of law and a free press generally spot that kind of thing. There were no Human Rights laws established.

Rubbish. Hitler came to power in a country that had one of the most progressive democratic constitutions in the world, a country with a whole raft of human rights.

The trouble is that human rights are fragile and aren't prized or valued enough.