“To Vote or Not To Vote” that is the question. For many people the general state of confusion generated by both sides of the argument could well result in a low poll turnout since this is going to be a very difficult decision for all but the already totally committed “Leavers” or “Stayers”.
As stated elsewhere on this website, my take on the theme of Be Your Own Boss is broader than just working for yourself or starting a business. Freedom of choice in how we live our lives is a fundamental issue for those attracted to the independence of not having a boss but rather being the boss!
Many of the auguments for or against remaining in the EU focus on economics and trade, on the potential effects on public services or on the security of the UK. But the wider issue driving most of the “leavers” is the issue of Freedom and Independence. There is an inbred resistance in the British psyche to being told what we can or cannot do, and more so against being told what we must do. As a nation we have fought to retain our independence for almost a thousand years, not only against external aggressors but even internally. Magna Carta and the Scottish independence referendum are topical examples but we can look to the War of the Roses and the English Civil War as other examples.
With the coming Referendum we have the opportunity to have our say on this issue, I believe that not voting at all is not an option as it puts our future in the hands of others. So the next question is Stay or Leave. Stay in the EU or leave and make our own way in the world.
There is growing pressure to Stay coming from not only our own Government, but from many outsiders. Pressure from other EU countries, pressure from the EU organisation, pressure even from America, an ally who every year celebrates its own independence! There is also growing pressure from large multi-national companies, from some business organisations and from major banks. Are they acting in our interests or their own?
Then we have the “Leavers”, the people who have campaigned on this issue for years. Their over-riding message is about freedom and independence. They point to excessive regulation from the EU, interference in our way of life and our ways of doing business. But are they right? Is leaving in our interests or theirs?
THE FACTS
In order to help make up our minds we, the people, have been asking for hard facts on which to base a decision. Instead we have been given conflicting assumptions, official guesswork, selective statistics. The same statements repeated over and over in the hope that repetition will result in belief. It appears there are NO FACTS! Just suppositions and wishfull thinking.
So why is there so much confusion and disagreement?
WE JUST DON’T KNOW!
The answer is that we don’t know and cannot know what will be the result of either remaining in the EU of of leaving and following our own course. As far as I’m aware Nostradamos, that famed futureologist, is silent on the subject of this Referendum. Predicting the future is a very inexact science, but that is what we are being asked to do in order to make our choice.
The Remain team say “We know what staying in looks like, because we have been in for years”. Not true! Many things have changed in the EU since we joined the “Common Market”. What we do know is that many more things will change within the EU. Some we already know about, like more countries joining, but the future is otherwise unpredictable. Will the EU prosper? Or will it crumble? In its present state it’s hard to tell.
The Leave team say “We will be better off outside as we will have the whole world to trade with, we will be free of the shackles of an unelected EU bureaucracy and be free to follow our own destiny”. Maybe! But will that road be a successful one? Who can tell?
One side says we will be better off out, the other says we will be better off in. Both are simply making predictions, otherwise known as guessing, or even gambling.
A ROLL OF THE DICE?
The die is cast, the referendum looms. All we can do is consider our own individual position and vote the way we truly feel. If we vote confidently with a sense of purpose then, whatever the outcome we will know we voted our way.
But if we vote due to fear for the future then the future we fear may just come about. If we are wrong we may regret being fearful.
YOUR FUTURE?
What I do know is this….
Change brings problems for the fearful and opportunities for the fearless. As individuals we can choose to embrace change. Whatever that change is, we can solve its problems and take its gifts. Or we can be a victim of change it’s our choice.
Whatever happens I wish you a great future 🙂
I have made my decision!
Which way will you vote?
