Do unto others...

Well, here we are at ground zero. But instead of finding nothing but scorched earth and a chance to rebuild a society from scratch it turns out that very little was actually cleared away in the blast. Nobody seriously expected anything different and no sensible observer imagined the smoke clearing to reveal a smiling army of politically neutral busy bees eager to get on and start the work. All the old structures are still in place and the gaping mouths of the dependent millions gape just as wide as before. There is no selective glyphosate that can rid us of the weeds and leave the crops, no magic decontaminant that can disinfect without damaging healthy flesh.

But there is one thing we didn’t have before and one principle we now need to inculcate in future generations if they are not to grow up to despise the decision we just took. The European Union – rightly in the views of many admirers – took away from its members the very things that make human society tolerable. National identity and pride in same; self-determination and an ability to shape things how people want them, not how a small elite think they should want them. And the opportunity for the whole of the population to be included in the national conversation, not just those who represent the vocal minorities who demand so much yet contribute so little.

Nobody is going to start tearing down legal rights and roaming gangs of vigilantes are not, as some suggest, going go around targeting people they don’t agree with – at least, no more than usual. False flag racism accusations proliferate, oddly after the vote; hopefully, they’ll tire of it or be found out eventually. But nothing will be done and the pains of this confrontation will not be eased if we don’t act to quell the clamour of blame and accusations of disenfranchisement from those who imagine their birthright has been stolen. If anything it has been handed back to them; they just need to know how to use it, starting with confronting a few home truths.

Firstly, nobody owes anybody a living. The illusion of a prosperous society in which nobody except imported wage slaves need to work for their daily bread is just a flimsy lie. The notion that everybody is equal, regardless of the evidence in front of your face is no noble truth but a meaningless slogan; the doors may be opened for you but you still have to walk through them yourself. The elevation of imported cultures above that of the indigenous stewards of this land has to cease. And all of this has to start where the socialist indoctrinators started generations ago; that old principle that rights come with responsibilities needs to be reinstalled at the heart of our democracy.

This applies as much to government as it does to individuals and the new-dawnsters of this post-Brexit, post-Christian world might do well to heed the moral foundations of what went before. The sermon on the mount is a good place to start. “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Whatever Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Uncle Tom Carswell and all think of Nigel Farage, this referendum would never have happened if it hadn’t been for his tireless mission. He has endured a relentless onslaught of personal attacks in recent years and now, when he should be exonerated they are trying to bury him.

They were more than happy to use his willingness to confront realities that the establishment refused to do and let him cut through to voters abandoned by their own parties long ago. They were happy to let him campaign on issues considered too toxic for polite conversations but which nevertheless needed confronting. But now, Boris having made his power play – and make no mistake that Boris couldn’t give a toss whether we’re in or out of the EU, the referendum was merely a convenient vehicle for his personal ambitions – he doesn’t want the small matter of discussing what the country actually needs to obstruct his road to coronation.

Never fob off the Farage!

Already he and others are rowing back on the rhetoric which brought about the Brexit result. Under Boris and Co. it looks like we may actually get the worst of both worlds. Instead of the Ukip leader’s positive vision for a free, independent and united Britain, leading the world, not yoked to the lumbering cart of a sclerotic political union, there is a danger that Project Johnson will be a moribund, business-as-usual affair. The fight for independence is not yet over and I very much doubt we have seen the last of Nigel Farage.