Bring it on

Via Fausty, I discover an article in the Telegraph, attacking the idea of Britain leaving the EU, using a strawman of dubious comparisons to Switzerland:

"Perhaps when the British talk about independence along Swiss lines, all they really mean is that the UK should quit the EU to become a reborn island fortress, trading mainly with the US and the old Commonwealth.

But is even this feasible? How could the EU, with its 430 million population, possibly be ignored? And would Europe tolerate the emergence on its doorstep of a large, aggressively capitalist maverick state without immediately seeking to rein it in? Or do those urging British withdrawal secretly believe that a UK departure would bring down the entire house of cards, leaving only free trade behind to mark its passing?

Perhaps. We live in interesting times."

Firstly we encounter the usual conflation of trade and political unity, or to put it another way, the ludicrous suggestion that the nation would cease to trade with countries within the EU if we left, and that those advocating national sovereignty would seek such a foolish goal. So, the question of its feasibility is irrelevant and misleading. But, note what comes next: the question of whether the EU (falsely called 'Europe') would 'tolerate' this. Here we can see one of the latent, although rarely stressed, beliefs in favour of our continued EU imprisonment: FEAR. We should remain inside the EU, because of what the remaining EU will do to us if we leave. Well, at least it helps dispense with all the fluffy 'brotherhood of man' bullshit we are usually told. However, it;s not much of a selling point, is it?