John Lewis, Donald Trump and Brexit: The Political Disconnect.

The name, John Lewis, is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. In UK, it is the chain of department stores whose boast is “never knowingly undersold.” In America, he is a 76 year-old civil rights campaigner who stood with Martin Luther King on the 1965 Selma March and got a beating for his pains on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He is a man who knows what it takes to defy unfair and oppressive authority.

In my previous blog, I wrote about the epidemic of mass shootings in America and the abject failure by members of the US Congress to take any action to ameliorate the law. Last Wednesday, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia led Democratic colleagues in the US House of Representatives, seeking to persuade colleagues from both sides of the aisle to take action to staunch the bloodshed. His pleas were rejected. He called upon members from his side: “We have turned deaf ears to the blood of the innocent and the concern of our nation. We are blind to a crisis. Where is the heart of this body? Where is our soul? Where is our moral leadership? Where is our courage?”

What the Democrats wanted was actually not much, just votes that first would bar potential terrorists from buying guns and second would close background-check loopholes for firearm sales at gun shows and over the internet. According to The Washington Post, 90 percent of the country supports those steps. Yet, even to compel a vote required a hostile takeover of the House.

When the Speaker refused to entertain the request, Lewis and his colleagues took over the floor of the House in a sit-in. Some journalists termed the revolt “historic.” They have short memories. In 2008, Republican Congressmen staged a similar revolt in the House, protesting restrictions on oil exploration. This was a time when oil prices were sky high and fracking was in its infancy.

This week’s protest by Lewis et. al. was nothing more than a publicity stunt. I say this because there was never any hope of getting a vote in the House, let alone having new federal legislation on the statute book. Passing an Act of Congress is a horribly complicated business. I could write about it but even the most shortened version would take a page. Suffice it to say that with Republican majorities in both House and Senate, coupled with the fact that in this election year, the NRA provides financial support to a majority of legislators from both parties, the deck is stacked against the 90 percent.

Lewis seemed to expect more than publicity: “Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary. Sometimes you have to make a way out of no way. We’ve been quiet for too long. Now is the time to get in the way. We will be silent no more. The time for silence is over.” However, 26 hours after the protest began, Lewis and his fellow Democrats called an end to the demonstration. No vote was taken.

I interpret the Lewis-led demonstration as evidence of another disconnect between the politicians and the people they serve, a breakdown in the machinery of American government made sterile and inoperable by its Constitution.

If further evidence of such disconnect in needed, look at the Trump effect. Here is a man without any political or government experience who has persuaded a majority of registered Republican voters that he is fit for the Presidency. On Friday, I watched him lie blatantly on television at the opening of the new Trump Turnberry golf course resort. He spoke warmly about co-operation with local planners and environment experts, when the truth was he had to repair numerous breaches of the law by his development company, delaying the opening for years. For me, this inarticulate, bigoted, self-serving, dangerous man embodies every negative that politics offers. Yet here he is, one November-day vote away from the White House.

We in the UK can hardly gloat. Last week, the Referendum on the European Union ended in a vote for Brexit, i.e. a decision to leave the European Union. To say I am shocked and dismayed by the result is an understatement. The polls warned of the outcome but the markets and bookmakers seemed to predict a big Remain victory.

Why did it happen? My belief is that the vote was not about the EU but a commentary on how we live in the UK. Too many members of the British public feel disconnected from the polity. In addition the refugee crisis, fueled by the Middle East wars, created an opportunity for the Leave campaign to scare the public that the country would be overcome by migrants as a result of EU policy. Both Remain and Leave told bare-faced lies and used scare tactics in an effort to persuade voters. I consider that those so disillusioned by politics took the opportunity to give the government the finger.

The immediate result has been David Cameron’s resignation as Prime Minister, which may result in a split in the Conservative Party but will probably cause the new PM to call a general election. The Labour opposition is falling apart with its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, facing a vote of no confidence next week and a fight for the leadership of the Labour Party in the offing. The divisiveness is both ugly and harmful to any chance of constructive government.

Other countries within the EU, such as Holland, are facing demands for a Referendum. In France, President Francois Hollande has to re-apply to his own political party for approval before he can ask the country to renew his job. In Spain, yesterday’s general election, the second in four months, will probably result in continued deadlock. Is there a new trend within the western bloc where dissatisfaction with political leadership and policy turns things upside down?  If so, I am too old for this!