On June 23, the United Kingdom will hold a referendum on whether or not it will leave the European Union, in a move dubbed “the Brexit.”
And while I acknowledge that the EU has its imperfections, I firmly believe that the trade deals and workers’ rights protections that the EU guarantees, and the potential for economic disaster brought up by the IMF and Bank of England, mean that there is only one logical decision for the United Kingdom, that they “Bremain.”
But beyond the Brexit vote’s implications for Europe, the threat and uncertainty posed by leaving organizations like NATO looms ominously over the United States.
Current Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly called the treaty organization “obsolete” and has alluded to his indifference if it were to break up.
Similarly, he has repeatedly stated his frustration with the United Nations, raising the question of what foreign policy under a President Trump would look like.
Therefore, while we in the United States watch as the United Kingdom draws closer to election day, we must consider the possibility of such actions that occurring in the United States.
And unlike the United Kingdom, we would have no referendum, and so the decision would likely rest in the hands of our lawmakers in Congress, which recent Gallup polls show only has the approval of 18 percent of Americans.
So if you, like me, believe that isolationism is a dangerous approach to foreign policy, and that intergovernmental organizations like NATO, the UN, and the EU do more good than harm, then this November, vote against Donald Trump, to show that you too believe that we are “Stronger In.”
Ben Gilsdorf
Amherst