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A thought about why Brexit's blocked: everyone's focused on outcome, not process
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For the past couple of years, different groups in the UK have built up deep preferences for particular outcomes to Brexit: leaving w deal, leaving w/o deal or remaining
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That's reflecting in the polarisation of opinion and the general lack of willingness to accept compromise positions.
Unfortunately, no one view has a majority, so there's a collective action problem
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Unfortunately, no one view has a majority, so there's a collective action problem
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The focus on outcome means there's very little thought given to processes that might generate common ground or shifts in views, and so produce a majority view
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The closest we get is "another referendum!" or "a general election!"
But both have little likelihood of generating a new majority or a consensus
(@Mij_Europe is great on the #GE19 option BTW: )
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But both have little likelihood of generating a new majority or a consensus
(@Mij_Europe is great on the #GE19 option BTW: )
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The big problem is that this all pushes people to do "whatever it takes" to get their way, trampling over constitutional/procedural niceties to get there
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Time and again, we've seen short-term expediency trumping long-term weakening of political norms
You solve a problem today, but set up a much bigger one down the line
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You solve a problem today, but set up a much bigger one down the line
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So, if you're looking for a robust, long-term way out of Brexit and the wider political challenges then you need to think not about winning, but about rebuilding a community of trust that can take collective decisions
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I'm not going to hold my breath on that, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying our hardest to achieve it
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