Who’s Next to Exit? France… or Maryland?

Freedom in Our Nostrils

BALTIMORE – “Brexit aftershocks send global markets tumbling,” said Yahoo Finance. The Dow fell another 260 points on Monday – or about 1.5% – as central banks pledged to do “whatever it takes” to protect Deep State interests.

But on Tuesday morning, British stocks have bounced. The FTSE 100, Britain’s main stock market benchmark, jumped about 2% early in the session. And European stocks have followed suit.

Here at the Diary, we are delighted by the whole thing. We never saw a line we wanted to wait in… never saw a crowd we wanted to join… and never met a secession movement we didn’t like.

Our loyalties are few… and small. We favor the underdog, the diehard, and the lost cause. Yes, we stand shoulder to shoulder with Hannibal at Zama, with Hugh O’Neill in Ireland, and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. We rise at the sound of the bugle and take up arms for the romantic finale – the Last Stand.

At least, in theory.

Who’s Next to Exit?

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU. But the English, along with the Welsh, voted strongly to break out. They dodged the searchlights, the hounds, and the barbed wire. Now, they are on the loose… and we and others are planning our escape.

“Frexit!” say the French.

“Nexit!” say the Dutch.

“Ciao!” say the Italians.

“Italy may be next,” says the Financial Times, anticipating a crucial vote coming up in October. And after more than 1,000 years of empire building, even the United Kingdom looks less united.

Scotland is now likely to hold a second referendum on independence from the rest of Britain – which, if successful, would allow it to rejoin the EU.

And Irish republican party Sinn Féin is calling for a vote in Northern Ireland on whether it wants to rejoin the EU by unifying with the Republic of Ireland (which remains in the now 27-country EU bloc).

And with the smell of freedom in our nostrils… wafting o’er the great seas… the spirit of liberty is stirring here at the Diary headquarters, too. If we had our druthers, we would exit from almost everything. The U.S. would LEAVE the Mideast, NATO, the UN… and all the “foreign entanglements” General Washington warned us about.

At home, we would exit the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs. Then, Maryland would withdraw gracefully from the United States. And we’re not finished. We don’t share much in common with the people from the West and the North of the state either. So we would encourage Anne Arundel County to break away from the Old Line State and declare its independence.

Free again, we would solemnly swear our undying loyalty. At least we would swear our loyalty to the part of the county south of the South River. It would be foolish and presumptuous for us to claim allegiance to anything north of the South River or west of the Patuxent. We don’t know them intimately enough to have any genuine affection for them.

But wait. There, standing at the prison gate, a Taser in one hand and a billy club in the other… is Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Stronger together” is her new campaign slogan. “And more easily controlled,” she might add.

Hillary is the candidate of the status quo. She is the ultimate insider, the warden, the Deep State champion whose entire program consists of building out the prison system set up by her husband, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Making a getaway is what Brexit is all about. But the British vote is not the end of the process. It is more likely just the beginning.