Lisbon is so far away…
That treaty. That damn treaty. Constitution in all but name. I’ve avoided EU issues for quite some time (as there are people better covering it than I) but it inevitably intrudes in every aspect of life.
It’s a done deal. A fait acomplis. No way out of it In the process of this constitution treaty becoming law I learned something about my father that I didn’t really want to learn, but which, perhaps, is inevitable. Brave as he is, free thinker that he is and smart as he is – god knows where that bit went, I sure didn’t get it – he sees no point in fighting. On his sixtieth birthday my uncle and his family came to visit. My uncle is Irish to the bone and a fighter like his forebears, and was in typically rambunctious mood over the possibility that Cameron would backtrack on his promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, taxes in general and the terrible fate awaiting politicians he despised, which would be all of them. Dad’s attitude was… knuckle down, try to pay as little as possible and try not to catch their attention. Don’t make an issue out of it and they won’t come after you. And yesterday, I brought up the issue of the treaty and the referendum being called off, expecting at least indignation or agreement that Something Should Be Done. He replied that nothing could be done. It’s law now.
Recently I’ve been feeling a little nagging voice that says it’s not worth fighting any more. It says give up and live your life as best you can. It’s the voice that no doubt millions have heard in the past as they worked around and behind the back of the system imposed on them by autocrats, trying to claw back as much if their pittance as they could from the maw of the state whilst avoiding its notice. I feel… it would be so easy to just go back to sleep. But, I’m young(ish) and still have a long life ahead of me. I think dad has decided to listen to that voice. He no doubt feels he deserves some peace in his life after the constant up and down of the last couple of decades. No doubt he doesn’t want to go back to the days when we lived on the edge of starving and he sees that any resistance to the growth of the EU in our lives would threaten the relative stability we’ve achieved as a family. He’s proud. I’m proud, which is why I hear the same voice.
I have, in the past, encountered people who assume that the country as a whole is populated by sheep who are so dumb they’ll follow any siren voice (mixing metaphors is fun!) but I think I discovered the truth today. Not sheep. My country is proud, far too proud to admit it has taken the wrong path. My people, all the peope who live here, refuse to accept that they collectively made a mistake in joining and remaining in the EU.
It is far easier to manipulate a proud people than it is to manipulate sheep. The metaphorical sheep will follow the loudest voice and can be snatched away by another in moments. A proud people are much harder to set on a course but, once set on it, are harder still to turn away or convince of their folly. In good times such pride will lead to great heroism and accomplishment, the refusal to stand down in the face of total defeat and the “stiff upper lip” of fable. In bad times, it leads to the tragedy of Scott and the rout of the Indian Mutiny, the bloody mess of the civil war and the loss of an empire.
God once called his people stiff-necked. Stubborn, like an ass, which has its good points but made them hard to save. I suspect the Israelites are not alone in this state of mind.
