Today I would like to share a couple of videos with you and a few of my thoughts.
How did we come to this place? It lies beyond the scope of this post to perform a complete in-depth analysis, but I would like to offer a couple of factors for consideration.
Inertia
Support for Britain remaining in the customs union comes from a variety of quarters, but a significant source is the twenty to thirty-somethings, amongst whom there is widespread favour towards Momentum. People in this age-bracket have never known an independent Britain: they grew up in a Britain that was part of the European Union. It is almost a truism that people fear the unknown; for this age group, striking out on our own to abolish tariffs or form new trade agreements represents a frightening unknown. It is understandable that they might fear Britain will never recover economically from such a step.
The debate, however, needs to be placed in a wider context. “Britain will perform badly outside of a customs union” is a synthetic proposition. In other words, it is not analytic, it is not true by definition. The fact is, Britain’s performance is contingent on a whole host of factors, not simply membership of the customs union. We can make projections based on past performance, but a true understanding of rationalism and empiricism should tell us that the past cannot give us knowledge about the future. In fact, some sources of data suggest that Britain currently trades more with countries outside the customs union than with those inside. If this is true, then the reasoning of the customs union supporters should tell them to abandon their position. But fear and inertia are powerful motivators.
WWII
In the current hysteria and assault on freedom of speech, one factor in particular seems to be driving the debate – fear of being likened to Hitler and the fascists. At the moment, we see the Labour party mired in accusations of anti-Semitism, while the infamous YouTuber, Count Dankula, has been fined for posting a video showing his dog giving a Nazi salute. Count Dankula is not a Nazi, however: he is not promoting fascist ideology. Nor is he seeking to deny the Holocaust or to make light of the suffering of Jews. On the contrary, he is making an argument that we should condemn fascism, that it is worthy of being held in derision. Those who campaign against him seem to fear that even talking about fascism in more than hushed tones will invoke a fascist spirit that will rise up to destroy us all. Such behaviour seems more like the wizards frightened of saying “Voldemort” than like the bravery of civilians and soldiers who resisted Nazism in the 30s and 40s.
Again, public debate needs to think about the broader context and real depth in the arguments. Which groups today are really behaving like Hitler and the SS? Cynical YouTubers or the likes of Hamas, ISIS, and Hezbollah? What is the real face of anti-Semitism today? Which groups are really advocating for totalitarian rule and suppression of free thinking and free speech?
Everything comes at a cost
Lastly, I submit for your consideration von Mises doctrines of praxeology. Humans are defined by action: deeds committed for a purpose. If there is no purpose, it is not properly the subject of praxeological analysis. All action comes at a cost: time, energy, and other resources (which are really just complex combinations thereof). Action involves choice: being limited by time and space, for a human to do one thing means choosing not to do another. Everything comes at a cost. When we choose to do something, we do so because of our value system (which can change over time).
There are many things as a nation we should be doing right now. For some people, they do not want to do them, because they do not value them ab initio. For others, it is because they are unwilling to pay the cost of such policies. But here is the problem: it is often the case that the longer one puts off making hard decisions of the kind before the UK right now, the harder the choice will be in the end. It will take pressure to make us overcome the inertia and fear that holds us back. But God can use hardship to bring about glorious results, and the Cross is His supreme example.
All Along the Watchtower 
When nations and Christians betray their traditions and begin to loathe their own heritage they abandon the course that their forefathers set for their nations or for the individual practicing Christian. Children see no difference between the secular and the practicing Christian mindset that is seen these days; for in a practical sense there seems to be none. The nations and the religions seem to be Christian in name only and in practice they have given up the hereafter for the now.
I believe the world is sitting on this precipice at the moment and the UK is only a hotspot that is being viewed as a spectacle as they wrestle with their future. For it is not only the future of the UK at stake as in all of Continental Europe but it is the future of Christianity amongst the largest and strongest nations on this planet. They have a choice to turn back to tradition or forge a brave new world with a man-made utopia for its goal as opposed to the salvation of souls and the human dignity that this struggle requires. They must decide if they wish to pursue the promises of Christ (Heaven) or the false heaven on earth (man-made utopia) which is the lie of Satan and the freedom to embrace evil for one’s own gain as opposed to enduring hardship and challenge for an everlasting gain which they have lost faith in.
Once a nation has traded their inheritance for a bowl of pottage it usually does not end well. Totalitarianism is the price that is paid for giving away rights and freedom in order to gain licentiousness in the here and now and to suckle at the teats of the government. Human dignity is lost and for this one gains the favor of the powerful and one can lead a useless, barren life of servitude to the state. But sadly this conversation will not take place within the government context nor from the pulpits of most churches. So the people will simply follow the path of least resistance and take the plunge like the lemmings from the proverbial cliff.
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Indeed – all very sad. Alas, too many churches have been infiltrated by the social Gospel and have traded the message.
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Churches should be like rock but sadly they have become as molasses merely slowing down the move toward the secular and globalist agenda; but they seem to slowly surrender their values and eventually come around. If it continues the churches will all be gone and the end will be swift and sure. And now you have the spectacle of a rising religious power and mosques will replace the steeples and gain a majority voice throughout Western Europe. The UK may the last place where this slide can be stopped except in small countries that will be swept aside in the new globalist world state that is being created. So the stakes are high. Brexit was only the beginning. For when the turn against the tide of the lemmings there is always a bunch more who will force them off the cliff backwards; you don’t have to go willingly but you will go if there are enough of them.
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Indeed. Italy and Hungary are trying to resist and there are youth movements, but I fear that may eventually degenerate into street fighting as it was in Germany.
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Exactly. You Brits are the last great hope for Europe. If you can succeed and show the rest of Europe success in recapturing much of what you have lost it may give hope to popular movements across the continent. If you fail I don’t see another country that will or can do what the UK is battling for at the moment. They hate the US so we won’t count for much whether we succeed or fail.
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Indeed. I wish that the UK, US, Canada, Australia and NZ would band together around our shared heritage. South Africa is too far gone to turn around in my opinion. I doubt Europe will ever listen to us again, while there are some in the youth who understand where the Brits are coming from, generally the picture is bad, especially among the older crowd, Marine LePen is an exception.
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Well, stiff upper lip and all that, Nicholas. Keep up the fight as the whole world is watching. If you go down, then go down swinging and never give up the fight until your dying breath. Maybe you will inspire others to follow your lead.
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Yes. We shall have to see how things progress, but I’m with those who stand for liberty.
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Amen. And we patriots of the US are behind you 100% and the progressives here are our and your mortal enemies in you battle for liberty and freedom.
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In an excellent article this morning Melanie Phillips said many good things;
http://www.melaniephillips.com/three-islands-of-exceptionalism-in-wests-darkest-hour/
Amongst them was this:
“Britain’s sense of itself as a natural fortress repelling invaders and fighting off potential subjugation is intimately bound up with its history as the crucible of political liberty.
Israel’s strong sense of its own identity derives from the fact that it is the nation state of the Jewish people who are bound by a unique destiny and history in a land that is uniquely theirs.
America’s confident sense of itself derives from the belief that, like ancient Israel, it is a godly nation. American exceptionalism is built into its national DNA.”
She’s correct, I think, but Britain seems bent on betraying its heritage, in favor of a government best described as Leviathan.
I think we will, as time goes on, begin to wonder why exactly we remain allied to a country that thinks it fine to murder not only unborn children, but born children, simply because they are ill, even if the NHS cannot say what the illness is (or is that perhaps why?). I noted this week, that while Alfie created an uproar in Italy, Poland and America, very little was heard from Britain itself, the main exceptions being Catholic, (our old friends at CP&S, and the Catholic Herald) and the former Confessor to the Queen, Gavin Ashenden. and Rev Dr. Jules Gomes, all people of orthodox faith.
Melanie drew comparisons from watching the film “The Darkest Hour”” on her transatlantic flight, I find it an acute observation.
In the very first American document, the very first right mentioned is the right to life, that is part of our British heritage, as well as our Christian one.
No answers from me today, I’m rather despondent at watching as the Britain, I’ve admired for 60 years, turns into something unrecognizably evil.
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Yes, all very sad. I wish I could cheer you up – but I have not the means. Not enough people with our views in Parliament and the universities. I can’t imagine how Jess feels about it all either.
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Wish you could as well, and I wish I knew her thinking as well, but all things end.
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Indeed I watched The Darkest Hour recently and am still struck by the reluctance of the hierarchy to embrace the popular strength of their people. The people would fight to the last man to defend its heritage and yet the leaders were largely for appeasement. Thank God they found a Churchill who felt the will of the people in his bones and tapped into that spirit. Who knows where we’d all be now if he hadn’t.
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Speaking German, most likely. I watched it last winter and followed with “Dunkirk”. Loved them both. Of course I did, it was England’s finest hour.
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Indeed it was. Both movies did a good job I thought.
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