Congratulations, John Bull. You Have Your Home Back.

A post-Hogarth, Napoleonic era (1803) John Bull
"If you won't let me eat my bread and cheese in peace and comfort, I'll blow you away"

According to Derek Jarrett in England in the Age of Hogarth, British satirist William Hogarth (1697-1764) transformed the familiar image of John Bull into "an archetype of the freeborn Englishman" overagainst the slavish and sluttish Frenchies of the pre-revolutionary, Bourbon era. Hogarth pictured him "like the animal from which he took his name: strong, virile...superbly stubborn and intractable, always ready to toss and gore those who tried to tame him" (p.22). It is the spirit of John Bull that made Great Britain, even after more than half a century of the welfare state, not quite a good fit for the European super-state and summon enough pluck to bid political adieu to their busily and efficiently benevolent overlords on the continent in the Brexit vote.

When the BBC announced just before midnight on June 23 that Leave had won the referendum on British membership in the European Union, I hurried upstairs to break the historic news to my children, two of whom were still bickering in their dark room. My 14-year old son interrupted my short history of the EU, asking me if I could put this issue in simple terms. "Syrians and sausages," I said. "Essentially, many people were upset at not having control over who comes into the country and how they make their sausages." Any citizen of the EU or anyone admitted to it by a member state (so, whether a Pole or a Syrian) is free to take up residence in Britain. Brits were looking at the flood of Middle Eastern migrants, their strain on social services, the terrorist attacks in Paris and Belgium, and the problems they already suffer in these regards, and said, "Not on my island!"

Just as burdensome has been the flood of at times ridiculous regulations from Brussels, the natural product of  politically coupling, as Bret Stephens put it, "France's obsession with bureaucracy with Germany's obsession with rules." Eggs may not be bought by the dozen but only by weight. Cucumbers with greater than allowable curvature may not be sold. In a restaurant, olive oil at your table must be served in a factory-sealed, pre-packaged dispenser. Just do a web search for "silly European regulations" and explore.

In brief, as Boris Johnson said in his sober and statesmanly victory reflections, the British people decided 52-48 "to take back control."

When warned of, and at times even threatened with, dire economic consequences should they decide to leave, Britons on balance were more impressed with the money they could save as one of the three net givers in the 28-nation European partnership (along with France and Germany, obviously). Greece? See to yourself.

Scotland, however, voted uniformly to remain. I asked on Twitter why Scots would rather be governed by unaccountable overseas bureaucrats than by an assembly of their own elected representatives in London. My father, who emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1958, gave me the answer.

"I grew up in one of the satellite areas of the English realm. London looked after England and did as little as possible for the outliers. The EU with its laws and funds changed that and raised the status and profile of those areas. The UK became more of a reality. Brexit may put the Scots under London rule again, to their disadvantage. Scots say, "If its not Scottish it's crap." English normally say, "If its not English it's not British."

Westminster governed as though Scotland were the crazy aunt in the attic. Scots would send MPs to London only to see them co-opted into the power circuit and social scene and forget who sent them. But the EU didn't know enough to treat Scots like irrelevant blue-painted savages, so they provided the same funding benefits (i.e., statist redistribution of wealth) that they supplied to every needy region. Caledonia will soon find herself once more alone in the home with her self-absorbed husband who doesn't provide. It is expected that she will soon want out. Whether by that time there is still an EU to which they can flee for refuge is yet to be seen.

As for Europe, they would be wise to pull back and retrench. Refuse Turkey. Deregulate. Prefer the harmony of local diversity to harmonization by centrally issued edicts. I think of the king who ceded power to the demos and received scorn from his friends who shamed him for handing down to his son a diminished crown. He responded that it would be a more long-lasting one. Just as David Cameron promised Scotland meaningful reforms and a better partnership in the future after he turned back their independence bid, Europe, having lost Britain to their independence and seeing others now call for the same way out, should re-envision their union for the times -- less ambitious, less intrusive, but more durable.

But they won't. They are in their positions of power and in this position of crisis because they are people of a self-righteous and controlling nature. So they won't.