The Brexit referendum (and the subsequent manoeuvres of the UK’s political parties to avoid its consequences) shows that we have come to the end of democracy. Politicians brush aside the petitions that tens of thousands vote for, or pay only perfunctory attention, patting us on the head and telling us to run along. They present us with party manifestos that promise binding commitments to various policies and then when they are elected to carry out those promises they simply ignore them. Vote Left, vote Right. Result? No change.

In 2010 Cameron promised to limit immigration He even signed a pledge telling us that if he failed we could sack him. For six years the UK had a Home Secretary who promised to reduce immigration to tens of thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands that were arriving. Now we have a Prime Minister who made the same promise but her current Home Secretary has just announced that he is abandoning that policy. The result? Hundreds of thousands still arriving. No change.

The biggest vote in the history of our country was to leave the EU, no ifs, no buts, out of the customs union, out of the single market, no more unfettered freedom of movement, Leave meant Leave. The effort from both sides of the debate was prodigious, from the highest level TV debates to the humble efforts of letterbox stuffers and doorstep visitors. Result? Lies, cheating, betrayal. No change there then.

The journalists who should be monitoring and exposing the failure of our appointed masters to live up to their promises, to tell the truth, are bought and paid for themselves or ideologically possessed by outdated political battles. Worse, many are sold, soul and conscience, to rich men who care nothing for our country or our people.

What the hell is going on?

If we can’t trust the promises on which we choose to vote, what control do we have?  If no-one exposes the lies, how are we to decide? Our rulers promise the world and deliver what they have already decided they want to deliver. The ballot box has failed not just because our political class has failed but because there are millions who vote for a label, not caring to look behind the label to see the rotting reality, to see that the label is itself a lie. So what power do we have, those of us who care not for labels but for integrity, for delivered promises, who care for the truth? What influence can we exert to steer our destiny?

We have money.

As individuals we have little economic power, just a few thousand pounds a year we can redirect here or there. We’re not like George Soros who can put billions into causes that catch his plutocratic fancy, but we are not individuals, we are legion. In the case of the referendum we are 17,400,000. Judging by the responses we are getting at our Brexit market stalls a second referendum to leave the EU would attract a larger majority. Let’s call it 18 million people who would vote to leave. If everyone of that 18 million spent a thousand pounds less on EU goods then the result is stunning – £18,000,000,000.

Let’s start small. Let’s first decide that we will appeal over the heads of the German government – those intransigent and power-seeking puppet-masters who seem to delight in humiliating our naive and incompetent negotiators – and speak directly to those who design, manufacture and sell German products. Why should we support a major industry in a country which is going out of its way to damage the UK and reduce our capabilities as an industrial rival? Let’s stop buying new German cars. In the UK we’ll be ignored by our own government, but in Germany BMW will be pulling the strings as soon as their UK sales figures dip.

After BMW we can boycott other EU targets, buy Australian wine instead of French, Scotch or Norfolk malt whisky instead of Cognac, Kenyan vegetables, English cheeses. A small change here, a small change there and we could make a difference of millions working in industries that have the ear of the EU. It may be a small weapon, a weak response to the overbearing power of the money men and the bureaucrats who are in their pockets, but what choice do we have? It’s fight, you bastards, or it’s surrender. I know which I prefer.

Let’s have a slogan to kick it off.

“Buying a new BMW car is an unpatriotic act.”

 

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