Britain hasn't gone mad -- it is getting ready to lead again

On both sides of the Atlantic, critics paint Brexit with the same broad brush as avowedly populist, and in some cases extreme, movements in  the Netherlands and other parts of Western Europe.

The reality, of course, is strikingly different. Far from being a one-dimensional, knee-jerk, anti-establishment development, the drive for Brexit has been decades in the making.

The intellectual case against the European project was first made by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in her seminal Bruges speech, delivered nearly 30 years ago, and followed later by her 2002 book, "Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World," where she raised the possibility of Britain leaving the EU.

It is no coincidence that the Conservative government today is, like Thatcher's three-term administration, the most pro-American, pro-Atlanticist, pro-free market and anti-Moscow in Europe.

It is simply ludicrous to compare the protectionist, big-government, pro-Putin campaign run by Marine Le Pen and the French National Front with the relentlessly positive, pro-free trade and market-driven approach of Britain's Conservatives.

If May delivers an emphatic win at the ballot box Thursday, it will be an endorsement of an outward-looking, truly global Britain that seeks to lead on the world stage rather than retreat from it.

It would owe much to the original vision of Thatcher, who dared to think the unthinkable in challenging the existing status quo on Europe. It would also be a firm rejection of Labour's hard-left tilt under Corbyn, an admirer of Karl Marx, which threatens to return Britain to the dark days of the trade union-dominated 1970s.

Brexit will undoubtedly be a huge game changer. It may lead to a fundamentally different Europe over the next quarter century, one where sovereignty and self-determination emerge as significantly more powerful principles across the entire continent.

Following Britain's departure from the EU, Europe may never be the same again. But the Europe that emerges should be one that is more outward- than inward-looking, more closely tied to the trans-Atlantic alliance and better able to deal with the myriad challenges of the 21st century.

Ahead of the British election, we want to know:  Call us and leave a message. Your response could be used on CNN.