Brexit explained for 'Muricans.

[Whateverist]

https://youtu.be/daB7np-RtOM


Hope this helps the rest of you as much as it did me .. I think.

[Excited Penguin]

Awesomesauce

[Tiberius]

When my family ask me to explain it I liken it to a state voting to secede from the USA, and the USA being powerless to stop the secession. No more federal funding, no more free travel between states, and any trade agreements would have to basically start from scratch.

[Joods]

Well that helps me out. Up until now, I thought Brexit was someone's last name or something.

[Minimalist]

When my family ask me to explain it I liken it to a state voting to secede from the USA, and the USA being powerless to stop the secession. No more federal funding, no more free travel between states, and any trade agreements would have to basically start from scratch.

They also seem to think they can negotiate from a position of equality, don't they?  Taking what they want and ignoring everything else.

[Tiberius]

When my family ask me to explain it I liken it to a state voting to secede from the USA, and the USA being powerless to stop the secession. No more federal funding, no more free travel between states, and any trade agreements would have to basically start from scratch.

They also seem to think they can negotiate from a position of equality, don't they?  Taking what they want and ignoring everything else.

Pretty much, so you can probably extend the analogy and say the state was California, or possibly even Texas. Big, lots of people, lots of power, and could definitely function as an individual country, however if you think California or Texas would have the same negotiating power as the entire USA, you're having a laugh.

[FatAndFaithless]

They also seem to think they can negotiate from a position of equality, don't they?  Taking what they want and ignoring everything else.

Pretty much, so you can probably extend the analogy and say the state was California, or possibly even Texas. Big, lots of people, lots of power, and could definitely function as an individual country, however if you think California or Texas would have the same negotiating power as the entire USA, you're having a laugh.

And then if the political figures that pushed for the secession immediately resigned after they left..

[mlmooney89]

When my family ask me to explain it I liken it to a state voting to secede from the USA, and the USA being powerless to stop the secession. No more federal funding, no more free travel between states, and any trade agreements would have to basically start from scratch.

That's a pretty good way to say it.

[Minimalist]

That's the thing, they haven't left yet nor have they even formally invoked the applicable section of the treaty to do so.  Obviously Cameron's position was, "fuck off, I'm not going to do it."   So you have a non-binding referendum which needs to be enacted by a government which seems lukewarm at best to the prospect AND, the rabble-rousers who pushed for it are gone.  Meanwhile the uncertainty it created is most definitely real and the consequences of that are even more real.

The term in the US is "clusterfuck."

[Homeless Nutter]

And then if the political figures that pushed for the secession immediately resigned after they left..

Well - before they even officially declared their intention to leave, let alone started the process, actually. And those separatist politicians that didn't quit themselves were deemed as unworthy of leadership, by both their peers and the public opinion.