
The stirring of discontent by British citizens by birth started before Brown took office. While it was very limited at first the resignation of Nigel Farage as a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1992 and his transition to the leadership of the UK Independence Party lit the spark. It has grown to the point today that UKIP has more members of the European Parliament from Britain than either the Labour or Conservative parties and it is making great strides to pick up local seats.
Brown made a major mess of government. Finances were out of control, unemployment rose dramatically, and the gap between rich and poor increased due to the loss of many traditional jobs to outsourcing and overseas placement, not too dissimilar from the American experience. But the one thing that really lit the powderkeg of discontent was immigration. The UK, as a member of the EU, accepted EU rules for immigration which practically took the doors off the hinges. And the resentment kept growing until Brown finally received a vote of no confidence from Parliament, signaling the British way of calling for an election.
Sadly for Britain, the Conservative Party leader who would challenge Brown was squishy. David Cameron talked a good game but he didn't have the "fire in the belly" for a cause like the UK needed. At a time when they could have used a strong, no-holds-barred leader like a Thatcher, they got a Cameron instead.
After the change of government, Britain continued meandering down the road of the One Europe concept and the immigration problem grew, now with the Muslim terror segment also a concern. So in addition to high unemployment, higher prices and high taxes, the average citizen was also faced with a foreign population that has no interest in being assimilated and is a safety threat. They also see that their national government is all too willing to surrender its sovereignty to a European bureaucratic nightmare organization in Brussels. Doesn't this sound somewhat similar to some of the things happening here in America? Remember the fears in recent years past about a North American Union?
So the convergence of national uproar against the political class in Britain has allowed Farage to make his move and he responded with the EU parliamentary victories as well as success in a number of local races as well. Now he has his sights set on the British Parliament and he clearly has Cameron worried. The Prime Minister is now starting to talk hawkish and is proposing immigration limitations for the first time.
Will Cameron be successful with his feint, which is only being done out of desperation, or will Farage's UKIP be a long term and larger scale player on the national scene? Only time will tell but one thing is certain. Nigel Farage has struck a raw nerve with native born Britons who are fed up with both of their major parties. They also are fed up with the EU and nationalism is growing strong. They want Britain to be British, not a bit player of a larger, international body.
Farage is now actively courting Conservative MPs to switch parties and he has been having some success. So with the energy of this man and his dedication to his home country, he may be the one to start the reverse of international governance and a return to what has worked for such a long time. As a person who believes in the sovereignty of nations and their right to self governance, I wish him well. He may just be the example to light the lamp of Americanism as well.