My cousin, who is strongly on the Remain side of the argument, suggested to me that we both take part in Grayson Perry's What Britain Wants project:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grayson-perrys-dream-house/articles/all/grayson-perry-what-britain-wants/5037
Grayson will be making 2 pots, one to represent the 52% who voted Leave, and the other, slightly smaller (presumbly 92.7% of the size of the Leave Pot), to represent the 48% who voted Remain. He is planning to put photos of people plus their opinions on the appropriate pot.
I was wondering what I would want to say, so first I want to take a step back an examine the issues afresh.
It is generally accepted that identity was a major factor in the way that people voted at the EU referendum, as outlined by Andrew Lilico:
http://reaction.life/world-needs-britain-today-ever/
Similarly, many of those who voted Remain did so based on their perception of their own identity: they saw themselves are enlightened cosmopolitan internationalists, and detested the thought of the UK retreating and pulling up the drawbridge; they particularly disliked Nigel Farage and his followers, and frankly who can blame them?
A more profound explanation of the basis of these identities can be found in the work of Professor Jonathan Haidt, who explains the divide between Globalism and Nationalism in a couple of excellent essays:
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/07/10/when-and-why-nationalism-beats-globalism/
http://www.humansandnature.org/the-ethics-of-globalism-nationalism-and-patriotism
(These cover the similar ground, and there is some repetition, but it is nevertheless worth reading both.)
So Remainers are Globalist and Brexiteers are Nationalists, right?
Not exactly, no.
That is far from the full story; it does not explain the motivation of those who can be categorised as "Liberal Leavers", whose manifesto can be found here:
https://www.adamsmith.org/the-liberal-case-for-leave/
So what's going on here? It is quite clear that Liberal Leavers are not Nationalists at all, but are Globalists. They have identified that the EU is itself parochial, just on a larger scale than the nation state, and they want a better form of Internationalism than the EU offers.
Indeed, populism and identity politics are a long way from providing an explanation:
https://capx.co/dont-blame-populism-for-brexit/
As for myself?
I seem to be somewhat straddling both camps. I am a Liberal Leaver, and yet, being an admirer of Edmund Burke, I have sympathies for parochialism.
My real issues, however, with the EU are practical and philosophical, as expounded by Allister Heath:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/12172429/EU-elites-wrongly-believe-they-have-perfected-government-so-we-should-leave.html
These differences are pretty much the reason why President Charles de Gaulle twice vetoed British entry to the then EEC:
"England in effect is insular, she is maritime, she is linked through her exchanges, her markets, her supply lines to the most diverse and often the most distant countries; she pursues essentially industrial and commercial activities, and only slight agricultural ones. She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions"
It seems to me that he had it right.
There are also the democratic issues - I agree with both Clement Attlee and Tony Benn, whose views on the Treaty of Rome and the Treaty of Maastricht respectively can be found elsewhere on my blog.
But the thing that really gets my goat is the way that the EU treats countries outside itself:
https://capx.co/how-the-eu-starves-africa-into-submission/
So in summary, my words for the Leave Pot would be:
Coffee and Chocolate.
