Posted on 06/23/2016 3:30:08 PM PDT by Lorianne
“England,” our Fairest Isle, including Scotland and Wales, looks like one single place because it is one single place. It is surrounded on all sides by water, which marks its boundaries and colours the British soul. You may say that there is no such thing as the “soul” of England: We may imagine her as Britannia, but a country is not a person. The only corporate personality, I am reliably told by R. R. Reno, is the Church. Countries are not persons, said the Oracle. No, maybe not—but they are analogous to persons, and they have some analog of a soul. And today we may say, as was said to France in 1941: “England, take care not to lose your soul.”
What does it mean for a country to have a soul? What would it mean for a country to lose its soul?
For a place to be a country at all, it must be a whole. It must look like, and also be, a single, self-standing whole. For a place to be a country, it must be given the look of an individual entity, by surrounding seas or rivers, or by mountain ranges. These geographical features defend the country against absorption into surrounding areas. Like life in the “Darwinian jungle,” so human life in the fallen history of mankind is a ceaseless struggle to survive against the other countries' will to dominion. A country's geographical boundaries not only make its wholeness visible but also shield it, enabling it to survive as a single, substantial entity. Thus, neither Norfolk nor, I'm sorry to say, Wales could operate for long as a country.
I name those two, by the way, because I'm confidently told that “one might as well say that Wales or Norfolk should seek independence from Great Britain and become self-governing states, as say that Great Britain should retrieve its independence from the maw of the European Union.” But Norfolk has not been a single, independent country for a thousand years, for the very good reason that it has no discernible borders to keep out intruders and mark its identity. What makes a place a country is a matter of geography and history. Spain is surrounded by mountains to the north and sea to the south. Poor Wales is not sufficiently so defended.
England is a country, as a matter of geography and history. But while a country's borders defend it from death by absorption into a wider empire, they cannot give it a soul. We know whether a place has a soul by whether it has a voice. A soul without a voice is unimaginable. A person's voice expresses his or her singular personality. The first thing we know about God in Genesis is that he speaks. A mute deity would be absolutely impersonal. To have anything analogous to a soul, a country needs not only borders but something like a voice. Not just the English accent, or a Welsh lilt or the Scottish brogue that so mystifies the Americans that they need subtitles for Scottish movies—but a single voice, appearing as the expression of a single mind. Without a single mind, a country has nothing analogous to a substantive personality, of which its voice is the outward indication. A multilingual territory can be an empire, in which one of its many languages is the dominant strain. But seldom can it be a single country with a soul of its own. That is why national independence movements desperately attempt to resurrect dying or dead local dialects.
That is why “Europe” will never be a “country,” and its M.O. will always be, not contingently but fundamentally, anti-democratic. With its twenty-four bureaucratically stipulated languages, the E.U. is a soul-less empire, not a country like England, Spain, and Hungary, with its own voice, its own mouth-piece, and thus something like a soul to call its own.
Every one of those “official languages” of the E.U., from Bulgarian to Swedish, has seen the sea-changes over the centuries. Languages live, they shrivel into local dialects, and thereby, languages die. If a country has some analog of a soul, that soul lives only in time, and therefore lives, and will eventually die, at some juncture in history. For the soul of England, that juncture may be imminent.
Tomorrow, the Fairest Isle has to choose between forfeiting her soul to the European Empire and retaining the sovereign freedom of her Parliamentary democracy. I do not hold out much hope for a vote to “Leave” the European Empire. The big banks, the money-guys, the Goldman-Sachses, and the Soroses are all for “Remaining.” So are those who want E.U. cash for their University jobs. So is everyone for whom money is their driving motivation. They want to exchange England's freedom for the mirage of prosperity. Very few people today believe there is such thing as a soul, exhibited in freedom from material constraint, and thus rising above money interests.
(excerpted)
>I did, but the murder of the MP changed the momentum.
Nah, it was the false flag excuse needed to rig the vote. The time for voting is over in the UK.
Never thought they would leave for two reasons: (1) they are too psychologically dependent on the nanny state and (2) the demographics of the country have changed dramatically and have implanted irreversible trends.
A remain vote is a victory for fear.
[The vote is falling less on traditional party/socioeconomic lines and more on Establishment vs. Grass Roots lines.]
That sounds familiar to what we are experiencing here.
Dark indeed is the hour. All signs forebode that the doom of Britain is nigh.
Sahria law within 5 years.
yes, you are right. poor woman was made a cause celeb by the left. NOw you’ll never hear about her again. I feel very sad tonight for Great Britain.
They’ll be fighting street to street throwing bottle inside a decade.
Should we take the migrants...? (Rhetorical question.)
Honestly....as cruel as it sounds, the fastest possible demise of Britian/Europe is what people hear need to see.
Here
Saw on hot air pic removing of England’s flag and leaving the EU flag on the platform ..WOW!! I bet you there’s a lot of tears being shed right now for England. So so sad.
Both true.
The last thing I want to see is Microsoft or Google counting my votes.
Remember this: if it weren't for Trump, FReepers would be mighty depressed today. You'd be looking at Jeb! as the nominee. And the Tim Cooks, Paul Ryans, Mitt Romneys and Warren Buffets would be grinning from ear to ear.
Be thankful for what we've got -- a real chance to dodge the economy tanking and the terror of Islamic Radicals. TRiUMPh with Trump!
I spoke too soon, while the wheel’s still in spin.
Brexit may win.
The Brits only warm up to Democrats. They loathed Bush and any American who traveled during his admin had to put up with their rudeness about him. They still think Kennedy was the bees knees (even though his brother was a promoter of the IRA) and adored that sexy devil (or as we know him that lying yokel in husky jeans)Clinton.
Hell, they could have been dancing to the tunes proscribed by Berlin decades earlier (but they had some self-respect and independent spirit back then!)
Hand raised.
And those immigrants, with a passport from ANY member state have free movement throughout the European Union.
As I said in another post...they’ll be fighting Muslims street to street in a decade with bottles and rocks.
Maybe this is the best outcome for the US, watching Europe completely fall apart and turn into a hell hole.
Maybe strategic bombing, why else bother.
Would you except an English migrant? (Now)
That’s a superb song, and very apropos here.
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