This is exactly it, for me. I gave serious thought to the prospect of voting to leave for a multitude of reasons, primarily because if anybody asks me a really serious question and wants me to give my answer then I want to make sure I give that question the respect and consideration it deserves. I want to challenge my own opinion at all times, because it’s only in doing so that I can confidently stand behind them. That’s why I listen to lots of political talk radio, some of which is very left of centre and some of which is very right of centre. I like to know what people who think differently to me are saying, because it keeps me exposed to opposing viewpoints.
Ultimately my decision to vote to remain came from two pretty simple stances:
1) Nobody could give me a definitive or consistent answer as to what leaving looked like. There was no common message or defined endgame. Some people said we would leave the single market, but many said we categorically wouldn’t; some said we would stay in an unspecified customs Union ranging from membership of the EEA to buzz phrases like “Canada++”, others said we would just crash out in a “hard Brexit” ASAP. Also, none of the people presenting these options actually had any authority or ability to promise anything at all, regardless of whether or not anybody’s view was consistent with anybody else’s. They were basically asking me to sell my house and have no idea where I was going to move until I was standing on the pavement with a suitcase in my hand. I don’t know why I would ever do that.
2) Some of the political characters supporting the leave campaign were beyond odious and untrustworthy, with a proven track record of being liars and opportunists to a truly dangerous extent. I’m not saying that every ‘remainer’ was a Saint - we don’t live in a world of absolutes no matter how much people try to claim otherwise for their own benefit - but I had a terrible, terrible feeling about being on the same side as a number of prominent Brexiteers. Johnson was the big one for me - a man who once wrote a book on Churchill and claimed that his decision to stand up to Hitler was a calculated risk, and a careerist gamble to gain the position of Prime Minister. That told me an awful lot about his mindset and how far he might be willing to go to get what he wanted, so when he became the poster boy it was a huge red flag. Especially once the argument was reduced to slogans and faux-patriotic name calling in lieu of facts and evidence.
Basically, I knew where I was even if it was flawed in some ways, and couldn’t understand the notion of blindly throwing myself out of a plane and worrying about whether or not there was a parachute strapped to my back until I was already speeding towards the ground.
To me, that’s just “common sense”.