The British people just voted to carry out “Brexit”, a British Exit from the European Union. While Scottish voters declined their own exit (from the United Kingdom) two years ago, settling by a small margin on the heartening message of “Better Together”, adding on England and Wales to that kind of a decision seems to have left them with an answer in kind, one of “HA NOPE”.

Barring the fact that David Cameron set up this vote as a way to please right-wing members of his party that wanted him out and to convince voters turning the way of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and that he’s now announced he’ll be stepping down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservatives, and that the irony of this is now such that CNN, global kingpin of boring headlines, headlined it as “Cameron falls on his sword as gamble backfires”, barring all of that - the vote on Brexit leaves some serious points to be made on what went wrong. Not because they voted Leave (although there are many who would consider that a mistake in its own right), but because the vote seems entirely unfair.

Britons, Europeans, and Britons who are already planning to hightail it out of there and become Europeans, I'll be honest. I speak from no particular qualification. I’m not an expert, far from it. Although you seem to have refuted those pretty well already, so maybe my not being one is a plus.

I’m just an interested citizen of the world and a student in political science and economics. Oh, also, one of the seven billion humans who are just about to get slapped in the face with the repercussions of your vote for a time that well-honed economic models are calling “a while”. Stocks are plunging fast, the pound is already down over 7% against the euro, and at the time of writing this the Dow had already plunged 500 points at open, making for a tense day at the London Stock Exchange.

The now-outgoing Prime Minister has promised to “steady the ship”, and given all the blame they heaped on Labour for the 2008 crisis, it’s going to be exciting to see some of that trademark Conservative recession sav- aaaand it’s austerity.

We ran out of paper towels. Guess we can just use these. #Brexit pic.twitter.com/ilQ9Ar0Gb2 — Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) June 24, 2016

But back to the vote. How can a straight-head count vote like this be “unfair", as I so eloquently put it at the fifth-grade level above?

Well, it seems to had led to three issues that suggest that perhaps an all-votes-equal format like a referendum might not have been ideal for a world-altering decision like this.

First, in what seems paramount to closing the door and changing the bolts on somebody once they go out to work, many British expatriates were not allowed to vote in the referendum. The movement to change this found an interesting figurehead in John Rhys, the actor who played Gimli in the Lord of the Rings ﻿movies, but it also allowed for the Hollywood Reporter to make a godawful joke about him being unable to join “the fellowship of the voters”. Ew. Just. No.

Second, three-quarters of young people voted Remain. Seventy-five percent. It should be a major red flag for anyone even vaguely involved in all of this that the vote for a infinitely complicated process of legal and economic uncoupling that will take decades was decided by people who might never live to see the fully independent United Kingdom they so desired.

Last is the point that in time, there simply might not be an independent United Kingdom at all, unless it refers to a United Kingdom of England and Wales. London, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favor of Remain, and public statements by their leaders reflected this greatly.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke directly to Europeans through a Facebook post, saying: “You are very welcome here. As a city, we are grateful for the enormous contribution you make, and that will not change as a result of this referendum.” He reiterated this point in a formal statement. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon emphasized that “[EU citizens] remain welcome here. Scotland is your home, and your contribution is valued.” She went on to say, however, that “Scotland faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU against our will,” and made it clear that this represented a renewal of her Government’s call for another referendum on Scottish Independence that takes the Brexit into account. Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister and his influential Sinn Féin party are now calling for a referendum of their own, strengthening their call for a united Ireland, a population united in their belief for the European Project. No word yet if the potential "Southern Ireland" is at all interested.

Frankly, we’re going to move past London because I simply doubt there’s potential for a Lexit from the UK, but there seems to be genuine movement towards a Scexit and a… N.I.-exit?

Curse you, media, and your insistence on catchy buzzwords that make no sense. I'm already thrilled for Italeave, Czechoff, and Grexit. Don’t forget Finnished.

Scottish Independence (and Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party’s chances for another Scottish Referendum) seems incredibly likelier now, and a reunion of Ireland and Northern Ireland seems doubtful but will actually be considered for the first time in decades. London obviously won’t become independent (and follow in the footsteps of great inland powerhouses like Lesotho), but the City of London (London’s equivalent to Wall Street) is already suffering immensely, which does not signal a good omen for the United Kingdom, further fueling the fires of Scottish Independence and/or Irish Union.

I’m not proposing any particular electoral solution to these issues, but they do seem to raise some red flags and ethical dilemmas that make the referendum a hugely doubtful decision-making tool.

Then there’s also the issue that the Leave campaign was allowed to parade around in a bus with a blatant lie on the side about sending 350 million pounds to the EU a week (when it’s really around 190 with rebates and it’ll cost far more weekly for them to participate in the European Common Market), as excellently pointed out by John Oliver. The Remain campaign also engaged in some bending of the truth, granted, but the Leave campaign was often blatantly dishonest, not to mention nationalistic and xenophobic. But, nonetheless, millions of Britons voted for their cause.

This is a serious issue. Lack of education on the vote became fairly notable once Google pointed out the following:

"What is the EU?" is the second top UK question on the EU since the #EURefResults were officially announced pic.twitter.com/1q4VAX3qcm — GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) June 24, 2016

This really seems like the sort of mass doubt that should be solved before the elections, the kind that could change opinions, or even turnout.

British Law on public propaganda on the vote even kept that John Oliver segment I linked to from airing until after the vote. Many voters were seriously misinformed, and none of the attempts made to debunk the blatant lies of the Leave campaign seem to have landed.

I’m on the other side of the world, typing away on a laptop in the Dominican Republic. I couldn’t vote, and I’m sure my opinion won’t be welcome to many, given how obviously pro-Remain I was. But I will be affected by your vote, Britain.

All of us will. And I think people from either side of this and around the world should genuinely take issue with David Cameron and many in the Conservative Party for this electoral promise. Gaining power in the 2015 General Election meant more than putting global markets and the future of the British people on the line to them, and they should not be forgiven for it.

For David Cameron to make such a promise to appease potential mutiny from right-wing members of his own party and voters drawn to Nigel Farage and UKIP’s disgustingly xenophobic message is reprehensible. To leave such a decision to an uninformed electorate and the whims of voter turnout is worse.

For Boris Johnson to use his bully pulpit and blatantly flip flop on the EU so as to lead the Leave campaign as a power grab towards Number 10 Downing Street is disgusting. And there's a strong chance he'll still get it.

For The Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, and Jeremy Corbyn especially, to lead such a half-hearted defense of Remain when Britain and the world needed the Left’s votes most is shameful. The Parties' message of Remain and Reform had a bright future and promised a European Union that finally could deliver on the idealism of the European Project and reap benefits for it globally. Instead an awkward campaign floundered it’s way towards a close-cut defeat that could very well have been avoided.

The United Kingdom must now try to sort itself out, united or as separate nations, lacking once and for all its status as a world power, and promising a xenophobia-driven restricted immigration system that will further harm its now-isolated economy. It must do it’s best to “steady the ship” and prevent the global financial crisis this could cause if badly handled. The European Union must also seek stability, and must redefine itself without one of its historically key members. This is a make or break moment, deciding between further EU-integration, freed from the United Kingdom’s reservations, or whether further splintering is on the way. Perhaps one day England and Wales might yet return to the EU, powered by the younger generation’s turn in power.

The vote was local, but the impact will be global. Good luck to us all, I suppose.