Saturday 2 July 2011

Message to the Tory Eurosceptics

According to the Mail, as many as half the Tory MPs are in favour of leaving the EU. It's nice of the Mail to report this, because you'd never guess.

I've got no patience with so-called 'Eurosceptics', the term says it all; passive, reluctant, but incapable of resisting the pull from Brussels. What does it amount to? Nothing more than this: the Eurosceptic will hand over money and control just the same as the EU-enthusiast, but they'll frown and furrow their brow while they do it. Oh, well done! What principle!

I am not a Eurosceptic; it doesn't come close to describing my position: I am pro-sovereignty. I define myself by what I'm in favour of, not what I'm against. I want the laws of this land and the taxes we pay decided here in this country with the active consent of the people of this country.

As a libertarian, I don't lionise democracy as an end in itself, nor do I have much faith in the Parliament at Westminster. Government must be limited and severely so. Nevertheless, when confronted by a choice between a government in London, elected and accountable to the people, and the unelected, unaccountable Commission in Brussels, I do not need to reflect long on which is preferable.

All these Tories better put the fuck up or shut the fuck up. Muttering when the party leaders are out of ear-shot ain't nearly enough. Raise the banner for national sovereignty and start campaigning to get us out, or sit down and count your 30 pieces of silver.

Hat tip: Witterings from Witney

UPDATE: Also relevant:
EU Referendum smells a stinking Tory rat
Snowolf echoes the sentiment

9 comments:

Snowolf said...

*applause*

I've been sitting on the same thing all day trying to articulate my thoughts over at my gaff. Cheers for the motivation.

Trooper Thompson said...

(bows humbly)

Anonymous said...

Maybe, in future, MPs (of all persuasions) should be asked not "are you a Eurosceptic?" but "are you a sovereignist?" or whatever the expression is.

Trooper Thompson said...

The proper term should be patriot, but that's lost its clarity of meaning. I would think 'are you pro-sovereignty' is better than your suggestion.

Anonymous said...

Sadly it is clear that the few "Eurosceptic" MP's are purely there as a lightning conductor for all the good they do.

Since I don't really believe in a nation state per se as anything other than an artifical construct, so it follows we must leave supra-national organisations like the EU, the UN, the WTO etc.

Trooper Thompson said...

SAOT,

what exactly do you mean by 'artificial construct'? Is such a thing bad in itself? What kind of social construct is not artificial?

Dick Puddlecote said...

There are a hard core of around 20 odd who are forthright and open in their EU scepticism. They are usually given a good spanking by the Tory front bench when they do, the justification being that Central Office believes they have lost GEs in the past because of internal division on the issue.

So why not just advocate secession as a core goal then? We know the majority are in favour of pulling out, it would be a vote-winner.

Of course, the EU pension aspect comes into play (it is lost if anything derogatory is said about the EU), and those who haven't YET got on the gravy train for one will hope to be part of the disaster just long enough to get one.

Speak qietly to Tory MPs though, and they're most definitely eurosceptic, just not ready to have their heads shot off until they know they are going to win.

I suppose that's politics (it's the same scenario for one of my chief bugbears, BTW). ;)

Trooper Thompson said...

Dick, I can understand the rationalisation for their inactivity, but it's time they put their country before party and career.

Anonymous said...

TT, fair point. What I meant was, with my family, specifically my son, I feel a natural urge to protect and provide for, and the social stuff has sprung up around this. Whereas the state, is really just a tribe with borders drawn on a map and the borders and indeed the map are what make it artificial. The social stuff implies one should be nationalistic etc.