Options

"You know how they say it's been a pleasure? Well, it hasn't."

 Mike Ehrmentraut of Breaking Bad, attempting to part ways with a pair of reckless drug dealers that have ruined everyone's good time.

I'm pleasantly surprised. Brexit succeeded. There was a lot of nay saying, and I agreed. Libertarians everywhere have permission to feel at least a little warm and fuzzy about this. As of this writing, Sixteen million individuals have said no to handing over their livelihoods to a distant, uncaring, and mostly unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy. Even if this quantity of voters lost, the quantity speaks for itself. I expected this to be very close, but I thought Bremain would win. It's never felt so good to be wrong.

What comes next? The elite and their henchmen insist the United Kingdom has brought about their own ruin. Ruin may be one such option, but who can say? The operating word is options. Options give choices, choices determine survival, ruin, or prosperity. The United Kingdom has all of these available.

Can we expect a domino effect? I don't think it's impossible. I'd say it's more possible today than it was yesterday. I'd imagine the powers that be might be a little alarmed at the results. Despite all of their attempts and machinations aimed to domesticate populations into obedience, this population said no.

What does this mean for everyone not in the United Kingdom? Ideally, inspiration. Saying "No" is still viable. If it can happen in Europe, where State Power seems to be the expectation, why not across the pond? If ever there was a growing frustration with a centralized power, we see it in the States. An outsider(ish) Republican plucked the nomination from the hands of the Koch Brothers, and the discontent in the Democrat party only seems to grow. Lest we forget, the Libertarian (that wasn't) is polling at roughly seven percent. There's obviously a demand for something different.

Decentralization gives the above three, and many other disenfranchised groups the power of options. What they say they want are things they can achieve through decentralization. Or, that naughty "S" word: Secession.

If San Francisco wants to put their utopian fantasies to the test, it's their right to secede and do these things. If Texas has decided that enough is enough, it's their right. If one subsection of any political entity decided they'd like to risk going it alone, why not?  For libertarians, this should be considered a goal. We may not achieve perfect liberty, but at least the options to pursue more liberty. Participating in a centralized power structure has yielded anything but.

In social circumstances, we do not chide the battered housewife for parting ways with her abusive husband. We don't demand that a husband remains with an unfaithful spouse. We don't even inhibit the child who has just achieved adulthood, and forges on alone to carve his own way.

But as is in all things Politics, the reasonable is considered heresy. Brexit has changed this conversation and challenged the norm. Now we get to wonder who's next.

Texas, I'm looking at you.