Opinion

Brexit: Take a Valium

To be sure, ‘exit’ would have consequences. But nobody knows what they would be—or whether dire or inconsequential.
Brexit: Take a Valium
A "Vote to Leave" campaigner holds a placard as Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage, campaigns for votes to leave the European Union in the June 23rd referendum in Bolton, England, on May 25, 2016. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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It is June 24 and voters in Great Britain have voted to “leave” the European Union rather than “remain.”

And observers looking west across what used to be called the “English Channel” remark that Great Britain has disappeared, sunk beneath the waves. Not even a trace remains of “Old Ben,” the House of Parliament/Tower of London, Stonehenge, or anything associated with the United Kingdom. Future generations will recall it as “lost” like Atlantis.

Or that is almost what one might expect, given all of the Apocalypse Tomorrow predictions from the semi-hysterical domestic and global chattering class inveighing against the “Leave” proponents. Less than three weeks before the referendum, the decibel level continues to rise.

A European Union referendum postal voting form, waiting to be signed, in Knutsford, U.K., on June 1, 2016. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A European Union referendum postal voting form, waiting to be signed, in Knutsford, U.K., on June 1, 2016. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images