British governance appears at least as bad today as American governance even though they are not helmed by an unstable and corrupt kleptocrat: Simon Wren-Lewis: Delusions of National Power: "Inevitable that the UK would stay in the Customs Union (CU) and the Single Market (SM)...
...That the UK would go ahead and impose a hard border and forsake any deal with the EU, or that a border would be created in the Irish Sea would not be approved by a majority in parliament. If the UK had a strong bargaining position, it could perhaps persuade the EU to compromise over how much of the Single Market it needed to be part of (the Jersey option), but... the UK gave up any bargaining strength it had when it triggered Article 50.... It is easy to imagine where these delusions of power come from. After all, despite what Brexiters say, the UK did have considerable influence in the EU when it was a member....
The more interesting question... is why these delusions continue when the reality of the UK’s powerlessness becomes obvious.... I can think of two answers.... Ideological blindness... obvious in the case of the Brexiters, but I think you can also see it elsewhere.... Specific dynamics created by the referendum. Leave votes were in part predicated on an illusion... [that] the UK would not be worse off because the EU would be desperate to accede to our demands.... Politician[s]... find it very hard to go back to the 52% and say your beliefs were delusions.... It is very hard for an elected politician to confront English nationalism... exploited and distorted in my view by a deeply corrupt press.... There is one way out that will spare politicians’ blushes and revitalise the economy, and that is to hold a referendum on the final deal where the economic costs of the deal are clearly spelt out.
