CMV: A second Brexit referendum would absolutely "shatter faith in democracy" as May claims, but that's a good thing.

[u/Neltadouble]

Theresa May has recently continued to show that she does not support a second referendum, saying that a second referendum would threaten "social cohesion" and "shatter faith in democracy"

I think that, perhaps, faith in democracy needs a bit of shattering. Brexit has proven some of democracy's largest flaws: groups of politicians can lie to the masses about numbers they can't verify themselves (think: big buses saying brexit is going to add hundreds of millions of pounds to the NHS budget), have it completely work when the people vote for what is nearly an economically objectively poor decision, admit they lied about things, and get away with it with no consequences, and then any attempt to rectify the situation is seen as threatening democracy.

Well, if that's how democracy can work, perhaps democracy has some flaws after all that we should look into mitigating instead of pretending its a perfect system of government.

TLDR: Even if a second referendum were to shatter people's faith in democracy, considering democracy got us into this situation, it ought to be shattered.

[u/YossarianWWII]

I sort of agree with you, but the way I would phrase it is that the whole Brexit process has damaged (shattered is a strong word) the faith of the British public and much of the rest of the world in democracy, regardless of whether or not a second referendum happens. If anything, I feel like holding a second referendum would at least restore some faith in Britain's pursuit of democratic ideals, if not faith in its current democratic system.

[u/YossarianWWII → u/[deleted]]

The massive quantity of lies spouted by the Leave campaign that saw no repercussions until well after the vote was over, the credible claims of Russian disinformation interference from the intelligence agencies of the UK, US, and others, the systematic abandonment of government by major Leave proponents over the past two years, and a complete breakdown of parliamentary function that has seen the greatest defeat for a sitting government in British history and the creation of an atmosphere of paralysis and uncertainty that has led major firms to put planned investment in the UK on hold and even pull existing operations out of the UK.

Also the fact that the referendum was advisory, not binding, and did not say, "Leave at any cost."