A Victory for Liberty in the U.K., That Was Heard Around the World

Yesterday the citizens of the United Kingdom scored a victory for freedom, democracy, and the future of their nation. By voting to leave the European Union, voters stood against the political establishment of both Britain and Europe, as well as many foreign leaders such as President Obama, who sought to interfere with an internal political debate over the future of Britain.

It was shameful for Obama, as the head of state of one of the U.K.’s closest allies, to seek to manipulate the results of the referendum by threatening that future trade deals and other diplomatic arrangements between the two countries would be put in jeopardy if Britain voted to Leave. The truth is that the United States and United Kingdom share a common heritage and a special relationship, one that cannot be erased regardless of whether the latter chooses to stay in the E.U.

But luckily, British voters didn’t allow Obama’s meddling to influence their decision. The truth is that, while we as Americans didn’t have a formal stake in the results of yesterday’s referendum, we are by nature pleased whenever principles of liberty and independence win out over a more collectivist argument. We want what’s best for the U.K., and our special relationship and many shared interests ensures that result will ultimately be best for America, as well.

To be sure, there will be some uncertainty for Britain in the weeks and months to come. The members of the European Union are already bound tightly to one another, and as the first country to leave the U.K. will be in uncharted waters. The leaders of the E.U., no doubt furious at the result of the referendum, will do nothing to make the transition easier, in an attempt to quell further talk by other countries of making their own exits. Already, calls are growing louder for France, Sweden, and the Netherlands to hold votes of their own.

And well they should. A majority of the British people yesterday recognized what many critics of the European Union, both in Europe and internationally, have been saying for years—that the Union is, at its heart, an undemocratic entity that suppresses the will of the people in favor of the will of unelected bureaucrats, who offer only ever-expanding regulations and a gradual stripping away of national sovereignty in return.

Member nations of the E.U. are subject to a loss of control over their own borders, replaced by enforced immigration quotas over which neither ordinary voters nor elected officials have any direct say. While our own country struggles with an ever-intrusive federal government seeking to impose new regulations every day, over nearly every conceivable aspect of daily life, we at least have the advantage that they are imposed by our own bureaucrats and elected officials. Citizens of the U.K., as members of the E.U., are subject to laws and regulations voted on neither by themselves, their own national Parliament, nor even by bureaucrats in their own country, but rather by unaccountable decision-makers in Brussels.

Rulings by national courts and congresses in any of the E.U.’s member nations may be superseded by decisions of the European Commission or European Court of Law. Even in some select cases where provisions of national constitutions conflict with European law, the latter takes precedence. Concepts like these are abhorrent to most Americans, and freedom-loving people around the world, but are accepted as part of life by those living within the 28 member nations of the European Union.

Soon to be twenty-seven. The scale of the victory for the British people, for the ideals of freedom and self-government, can hardly be overstated. The system of government currently in place in Europe is a dangerous one, and it is always good to see such systems contract rather than expand, lest they one day serve as models for a future government of our own.

Over two centuries ago, the American colonists stood against Great Britain, won their independence, and created a new government to stand as a beacon for liberty. Yesterday we saw the United Kingdom shine as a similar beacon for the other nations of Europe. It is not an exaggeration to say that yesterday truly, June 23, truly was—as Vote Leave campaigners promised it would be—the U.K.’s own Independence Day.