Merriam Webster defines it this way:
loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups
I don't know how old this definition is, but do we beieve this is what's at stake? Not just protecting our interests...but 'promoting' them to the rest of the world?
When it gets to the definition of our 'culture', though, things get a little dicey, don't they? What is our culture? Isn't it endlessly fluid? Ever-changing? (I grew up not knowing that 'Mexican food' even existed. Vive le difference!)
Certainly globalization is one of the things influencing this. The extreme opposite of globalism would be absolute isolation--no trade, no immigration, hewing to one set of values, one religion. etc. I think there are places on Earth that still come close to this...but would any American want to live there? Our 'culture wars' are always accomodations to change. Those who long for 'the good old days' are ones whose class, race, geography, value system, etc., benefitted from their recollection of what existed 'back then'. Those 'good old days' certainly did not apply to everyone.
But to a more specific point on Brexit. I saw someone I respect online today asking if anyone had seen links to the reasoning of those who voted 'leave'. I did not see any responses...so maybe there was no 'exit polling' to draw from?
At any rate, some motivations for the 'leave' vote would seem to include:
- immigration/refugee stress
- loss of jobs to trade
- threat to culture
- anger at the establishment (both parties)
I don't know how much is due to each...or whether there are big issues that don't occur to me...but if I were either of the Presidential candidates here I'd be trying to find out the answers, because I think it may wind up being the Rosetta stone for the election.