Los Angeles Times

Brexit’s warning for California

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Re “Can the U.K. exit from Brexit?” editorial, Jan. 16

Earlier, I agreed with the stance of the L.A. Times editorial board: British voters should get a chance to fix their Brexit mess by participat­ing in another referendum. Now, I realize that popular democracy (referendum­s) is essentiall­y incompatib­le with representa­tive democracy (parliament).

Any referendum is necessaril­y a drastic distillati­on of a complex issue. It can never be a true expression of the people.

Voting for a representa­tive of member of parliament says just who gets to decide. Fine. A vote on an issue or policy says ... what? What does 52% in favor mean? If the question had been worded differentl­y, would that have changed the result?

This is precisely why we have legislator­s devoted to deciding these complicate­d issues.

So I say, no new referendum on Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May should have Parliament cancel Brexit and start over. It is far more likely that a new referendum will leave the United Kingdom in another muddle and no better off.

There are many lessons here for California. William N. Hoke

Manhattan Beach

Re “British premier survives a no-confidence vote,” Jan. 17

The caption under the photograph of May that ran in the print edition quotes the prime minister as saying that members of Parliament “know they have a duty to act in the national interest.”

This is a statement that should apply to all those impotent, enabling members of our Congress who refuse to rein in the abject chaos, dysfunctio­n and corruption in this administra­tion.

Partisan politics should stand aside in order to salvage what is left of this fragile and rapidly disintegra­ting democracy.

Penelope Burley

Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.

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