What happened?

Did earthquakes churn Europe into rubble? Did the Plague descend upon Britain? Did skyscrapers topple? Did the Queen scamper naked around Piccadilly Circus?

Europeans are screaming at the Brits. Calling them everything but Nazis. Half the British are screaming at the other half. In fact, calling them Nazis. What cataclysmic event has brought about such rancor?

The people said no.

What do you mean?

Politicians asked Brits if they wanted to stay in the European Union. They voted no.

Is that all?

That’s all.

Well, over on this side of the pond, what happened with the Republicans? Leading Republicans call other party members racists and ignorant and stupid. Big-time Republicans are apoplectic. They will spurn the party’s convention. Some, like George Will, are quitting the party. Some call for Republicans to work against their presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Yes, some big Republicans actually want Hillary Clinton to win.

What on earth is going on?

The people voted.

Is that all?

That’s all.

Seventeen candidates vied for their votes in the GOP primaries and caucuses. Republican voters chose a guy the leaders did not like. The people voted for The Donald in record numbers.

So with both Britain and America, what is going on here? Presidents and prime ministers told people how to vote. World Bank leaders, top economists, party leaders, and commentators and columnists told the people how to vote. Experts and billionaires, CEOs, and astrologists, movie stars, and the elite of every stripe told the people how to vote.

But the people voted otherwise.

All this upset and name calling is nothing more than sour grapes. I take that back. It is more than sour grapes. It is more than their embarrassment. It is that an army of elite, important people think the people are peons. Anyone who disagrees with these elites are peons and morons — in their eyes they are.

George Soros knows how the world should be run. Richard Branson knows too. If we don’t vote the way they know we should vote, they assure us we are ignoramuses. They reckon the UK government should ignore that the people voted to leave the EU. President Obama also thought he knew what is best for the Brits. He went to London to tell them so.

Obama also swears he knows what is best for us in health care. Never, not once, has a majority of the American people agreed with him. They don’t know anything, he says. I know better than they do, he believes.

Barack and Hillary also say they know what is best for us when it comes to Benghazi. They concocted lies about it, because they know what we should hear. They lied. They ordered others to lie. Yes, lie to the peons.

Our leaders lie to us about how the IRS abuses taxpayers. They lie to us about how the VA abuses our veterans. They sneak regulations into force that they know the people would oppose. Doesn’t matter. We are only peons.

All of this inspires a question that just won’t go away. We are peons in the eyes of the elites. They make that clear. So, if our leaders are not beholden to us, the peons, to whom are they beholden? Who pulls their strings?

We had a Congress impose an onerous health-care system upon people who did not want it. Big majorities did not want it. So who were the legislators beholden to?

Certainly not the people.

We are regularly treated to laws a majority of us don’t want. We are battered by regulations that a majority of us don’t want.

Various European countries will not let their voters decide if they want to stay in the EU. Because polls tell them majorities want out.

In all these cases, leaders are not doing the bidding of the people. So, whose bidding are they doing?

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. Several upstate radio stations carry his daily commentary, Tom Morgan’s Money Talk. Contact him at tomasinmorgan.com

The START-UP NY report badly missed its deadline and the program is completely missing its goals. Taxpayers have invested millions of dollars to promote a job-creation initiative that has turned out to be long on promises but woefully short on actual jobs.

With only 332 jobs created in 2015, it is time to reevaluate the START-UP NY program and its future. Despite political rhetoric and false “Open for Business” claims, this program is not working for communities across the state. If START-UP NY was truly effective, New Yorkers would not have waited three months for an update and details would not have been secretly posted on a website late on a Friday afternoon.

Multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns can’t sell START-UP and can’t mask the fact that New York’s oppressive business climate — made even worse during the 2016 legislative session — prohibits true economic growth.

Job creation and economic development will never be realized through gimmicks, casinos, or grant programs that choose winners and losers. New York needs serious policy reforms that reduce onerous regulations and lessen the burden of taxes and fees that stifle success and opportunity.

Brian M. Kolb (R, I, C–Canandaigua) is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us. This editorial is drawn from a statement his office issued on July 1.