Tragically, this resulted in the murder of Jo Cox, which has at least seemed to inject a modicum of decency back into the debate. The internet is awash with right wing trolls hurling accusations of treachery and treason at all who disagree with them. I have never seen such bile and venom. My own attempts to try and have reasonable conversations on line with members of the #VoteLeave campaign have been met with point blank refusal to even review facts.
UKIP have been plastering the country with misleading and racist posters, which mainstream #VoteLeave campaigners such as Michael Gove have described as stomach churning.
What upsets me most is the complete lack of leadership from The Prime Minister. David Cameron has not tried to make a positive case to stay in. It has simply been scaremongering and hot air.
Even the most committed Remain supporters admit the EU is flawed. Many people who are voting Leave are doing so reluctantly, but because they believe it is incapable of reform. Cameron has poured petrol on these fears by pretending the dodgy deal he cobbled together was a real change. For many, this tipped them towards leave.
Cameron should have made the case that as we are geographically part of Western Europe, we are inextricably tied to Europe whether we like it or not. He should have made the case that if there is not reform in the EU, it will be bad for Britain regardless of whether we are in or out, but we can only drive reform if we are in. Cameron should have made the case that if the UK leaves, this could cause the disintegration of the EU and this would be very bad for countries on the Eastern edge of the EU. The Baltic republics, Poland, The Czech Republic etc for years suffered as satellites of The USSR. If the EU failed they would once again be at the risk of economic bullying by Putin and Russia. That is why Putin supports Brexit.
Great Britain has always taken a leading role in shaping the development of the world. We lead the fight to abolish the global Slave trade, we lead the fight against Nazi expansion, we set up the Court at The Hague, which has brought tyrants to heel. But all of these things we could only achieve because our allies respected us. We needed to work together. If we are outside of the EU, we cannot shape its development. We cannot veto bad policies and we cannot influence policy to help smaller and more vulnerable members such as Estonia and Latvia.
These smaller nations look to the UK to protect them within the EU from German dominance. I don't know about you, but I don't throw my friends to the wolves.
Leave have made all sorts of arguments about how the UK can keep its cash. If you believed their spin, you'd think the UK was a basket case. We are not. We are the worlds 5th largest economy, we have low unemployment and are more wealthy than we've ever been. The reason we are seeing high levels of immigration is because we are a successful nation. Like the US, people want to live here.
To hear people pretend otherwise sickens me. The referendum campaign has been a nightmare. The sooner it is over, the better. I just hope that people see through the lies and make the right decision for the Uk an for the rest of the world.
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