“Okay, so the idiots did it; they broke the UK.” When this is your attitude toward your fellow countrymen and women of course it’s broken. A majority voted fo

“Okay, so the idiots did it; they broke the UK.” When this is your attitude toward your fellow countrymen and women of course it’s broken. A majority voted for something and they are “idiots”. Democracy is ugly, especially when the majority votes against what you think is best. Dismissing the rise of populism as “idiots” is about as smug and idiotic as it gets. Populism isn’t rising because people don’t know what’s good for them, but because people don’t think the current structure of the system is good for them. If you’re doing well in the current system, of course it seems stupid to vote against it. If you aren’t doing well, then any brick to throw at the glass house looks good. Populism and extreme nationalism is best kept at bay by a system that works for the majority of people, creating a strong “middle class”. That way fewer brick throwers exist. But lecturing people about “what’s best” for them or trotting out abstract economic figures and theories won’t do it, only forward economic progress will, where people believe the system works and they can move forward and not slide backwards. Most governments have tried to paste over issues with rhetoric, theories, and easy, central-bank money, all of which are only exacerbating the problems, not fixing them.