Very honest and fair of you to admit that Dave.

Every decision made by the populace is in the interest of the nation, by default. The nation has no basis of existence other than its population, and no independent existence outside of their concepts.

A bad decision, is still the right decision, in a democracy, if it has the mandate of the people and does not violate their legal rights.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

Rachel Johnson is a very presentable bit of posh 50 something skirt.

I disagree. A nation is the people, and they can only exist in the present here and now. What future generations will make of something, is largely irrelevant. Hindsight is a gift no one possesses, and even in the future, people will argue about whether it was right or not.

The interests of the nation, only exist within the collective social construct of national interests of the present population. History can no more judge whether something is 'in its interest' than the nation can - It would still only be the decision of the population at that time. It could then change again 10 years after that, or 20.

Of course they can, its at the very heart of what it means to be human. Everyone, everywhere, with most of their social interactions, is involved in somekind of manipulation. There is no neutrality, even in how we speak, we define our 'socio-political' agenda and message.

Everyone, everywhere, at every time, engages or has engaged in manipulation and socially engineering. Its the method by which society and civilisation function, grow and change. Even in this exchange, we're trying to manipulate one another.

Language is the propaganda of the self.

The mistake most people make is to presume that anyone is exempt from this and to believe in 'progress'. The future will be different to the past, and the present, as will the people in it, and they are no more capable of judging us, than we are them.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

And where would you fall in this taxonomy?

I don't think there is a right or a wrong decision, or that ultimately that the outcome of the decision will bear any real impact on the eventual future, whether in the EU or not, the UK will proceed to remain on a track to becoming a country in which corporate influence and power, exceeds the influence and power of state or its citizens. All that leaving the EU will achieve, without a massive change of political reality in the UK, is that we'll be more influenced by Corporate entities outside the EU, than those which exert influence within the EU.

Ultimately, people will blame the referendum, like Thatcher, more by how it affected them, than actually any real appraisal of the country or the consequences - and they'll still argue that their decision was right irrespective of the consequences - or shift the blame onto others.

Unless it totally goes tits to the wall of course. There were a lot of German people of a specific generation that still regard themselves as blameless.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge still has massive support in parts of the country - And they murdered half the adult population.

People are no better in hindsight, that their foresight, they're just create different arguments. I suspect plenty of Nazi's died unrepentant, and those that didn't, blamed everyone other than their own decision.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]