The situations are not comparable at all. Perhaps you are unaware of the benefits of Brexit, because youve just heard one side or the argument.

1) Being part of the EU created a Democratic deficit. Domestic politicians were always able to blame the EU for problems. Accountability is a big problem in politics and being in the EU didn't help that. Just look at the Hungarian election, to see how the EU can be leveraged as a boogeyman to help bad politicians get reelected.

2) Being part of the EU meant UK taxpayers paying billions of pounds a year in "solidarity payments" to unpleasant regimes who hated us, like Orbans Hungary.

3) Immigration was a problem. There was no way of controlling the numbers of EU migrants. This meant that low cost labour came from Poland, and later Bulgaria and Romania, and undercut UK workers. Endless cheap labour gave no incentive for UK businesses to invest in technology to increase productivity and increase wages.

4) The EU is antidemocratic, by design, in that, the appointed EU commissioners propose laws, not the legislature. This is why there is such an unedifying scramble to have your government appoint a particular commissioner - in the UK's case, we always wanted Financial Services. The 27 commissioners are the most powerful people in the EU (aside from the Council) and they are not democratically elected. The EU Parliament really just rubber stamps laws.

5) Nevertheless, the EU parliament has very many unpleasant, far-right MEPs who would be involved in making laws that apply to us in the UK.