I'm getting very bored of pro-Brexit people talking about democracy. The democracy boat sailed years ago. The situation we're in now literally cannot happen in a functioning democracy.
A democracy, as distinct from simple mob rule, is a system of government where the people can shape policy direction to some greater or lesser extent, but if they're feeling peckish they can't just all gang up and decide to eat Gary.
But people really thought Gary looked delicious, and that anyway he's a prick who has it coming. And Cameron only knew one answer to that: let the people vote and hope you get to act sympathetic without having to actually do anything. And it worked, twice. Then he pushed his luck
So here we are. The government's painted itself into this ridiculous corner where they want to be seen to be working hard towards delivering Garyburgers but know they can't actually turn up at his flat with a captive bolt pistol and a disposable barbecue.
So we can't eat Gary, obviously that's not an option, but if we *don't* eat him, that would mean admitting that the whole charade so far has been a web of nonsense and lies. And Theresa May's "Linda McCartney Gary-Style Textured Protein Nuggets" just aren't the same.
A functional democracy has exactly one option at this point: hold up its hands and say "sorry, this has been a giant mistake, we respect your views but *this right here* is a nonsense that has gone too far". Yes, it's hard, but only because we've spent two years putting it off.
Would a second referendum be undemocratic? It depends how we do it. But damn sure the first one was. One option was ill-defined, voters were misled, campaigns broke the law, and all the checks and balances were ignored. The vote, and its result, do not deserve our respect.
