The Rutland Herald (Vt.), June 25:

The consequences of the British vote to exit from the European Union will now be more than theoretical. Soon we will know whether pro-union forces were right in warning that economic and political decline would follow.

The problem is that in Europe and America the public and the politicians often learn the wrong lessons from economic catastrophe, applying the wrong solutions and making the problem worse.

Already, the British pound and stock markets around the world had plummeted. Conceivably, these were only short-term reactions. But if economic turmoil leads to recession and widespread layoffs, working people will once again bear the brunt of misguided policies that had promised them an improvement in their prospects.

It has happened before. Austerity policies in the United States and Europe following the Great Recession of 2008 led to a slower recovery, widespread poverty and growing inequality. The Obama economic program was hamstrung from the start by a conservative Congress preoccupied with the theoretical problem of debt instead of the actual problem of stagnation. In Europe austerities policies made things even worse.

But the wrong lesson was learned from that deadlock. In the United States, a tea party backlash blamed the government, when in fact it was the hobbling of government by conservative ideologues that prolonged the misery. Where is the large infrastructure program that would put millions of people to work while carrying out needed improvements to roads, bridges and other vital projects? Those jobs have not materialized because Republicans oppose “big government.”

The classic question was posed by a book, “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” which asked why poor, working-class Americans in places such as Kansas continually voted against their own self-interest. Governments, as in Kansas, cut benefits that would help poor, working class people get a leg up – education, child care, health care – while slashing taxes for the wealthy. Kansas, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, offers evidence of the failure of these policies.

The question is whether the people will draw the correct lessons from the failure of conservative economics or whether they will hold to the notion that taxes must be cut at all costs (while gay rights must be scorned). At some point, working people will have to demand that government raise the money for services that lift people out of poverty – education chief among them – and set aside the cultural issues that conservatives have used as a diversion from the class warfare currently being waged by the wealthy against the poor.

If Europe sinks into unemployment and recession as a result of Brexit, there will be a fresh batch of evidence to consider. The movement to leave the European Union has been fueled by the same sort of xenophobia and racism that Donald Trump seeks to exploit in the United States. If British workers are left holding the bag, then they could well turn more radically to the right, seeking enemies to blame.

As for Trump, on Friday he turned up in Scotland, where he owns a golf course, proclaiming that the falling British pound was good because it would enable more golfers to come to his Scottish resort. As usual, he could see no further than his narrow self-interest.

Scotland, meanwhile, is now considering disunion from the United Kingdom because Scots want to continue as part of the European Union. The Brexit question is also said to have stirred up sectarian passions in Northern Ireland, where violence is not far from the surface. Right-wing demagogues throughout Europe were celebrating the Brexit vote, which put Trump in the company of a dubious crowd, including Vladimir Putin and Marine Le Pen.

European leaders will be searching for ways to hold the European Union together before the forces of disunion and economic nationalism grow too threatening. The immigration problem remains a potent cause of disunion, which is one reason Putin has chosen to help prolong the war in Syria.

President Barack Obama had counseled against Brexit. He understood a united and prosperous Europe was in the interest of the United States. That he may be proven right by the dire events likely to follow is probably of little consolation to him.

The Day (Conn.), June 23:

Democrats should continue to keep the heat on the Republican majority in Congress. They have the backing of the public in calling for moderate reforms to improve federal gun-control rules.

In pressing the issue, the Democrats can expose Republican majorities in the House and Senate that are more concerned about keeping pro-gun hardliners in the party’s base happy, and the campaign cash from the National Rifle Association rolling in, than they are about reducing gun violence.

Put another way, one party wants to take small steps toward keeping guns out of the hands of potential homegrown terrorists, while the other party is more worried about the Second Amendment rights of these individuals.

Connecticut’s representatives in the House and Senate have been front and center in pressing the issue. Connecticut representatives in the House led the walkout on another moment of silence, this one for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando in which 49 nightclub patrons were murdered. The point was clear. Such gestures are empty in light of the unwillingness to do anything about gun violence.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut then used his 15-hour filibuster to pressure Republicans to allow a vote in the Senate. Though the gun-control measures failed to gain approval, having a vote was progress and talks continue.

The latest protest came in the form of an around-the-clock sit-in on the House floor by the Democratic minority as they pressed for a gun-control vote in that chamber.

The Democrats want the law changed to ban gun sales to individuals on the government’s nofly and other terrorism watch lists. And they want to expand federal background checks, now required of licensed dealers, to include Internet sales and gun-show transactions.

A recent Gallup Poll found 71 percent of the public agrees with banning gun sales to people on the federal no-fly list, while a poll last year showed 86 percent support for making background checks universal.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWisc., dismissed the move by the Democrats as a stunt. That’s fair, but it proved effective in focusing the public’s attention and becoming a social media sensation.

At 3:15 in the morning Thursday, as Americans slept, the Republicans turned tail. They recessed the session prematurely, not to return until July 5. On Thursday afternoon the Democrats ended their sit-in – for now.