Brexit was never about a defined goal.
by CM Baska
Brexit was never about a defined goal. It was about an evolving story. The narratives, not the arguments, define this period of British history
Let's have some home truth regarding the indigenous English peoples reason as to why we adamantly chose not to want to be in the EU, since Ireland is happy as an EU member, while Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain.
The English people came from a combination of Celts (Queen Boadicea was a famous one), (arguably the real autochtones), Romans (quite a few stayed after 410 A. D. when Roman rule came to an end), Angles, Jutes and Saxons (came from Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea), then Normans, who were a French population conquered by Vikings (Norsemen), who stayed, eventually became subjects, and whom the French had assimilated during the two-three previous centuries.
They spoke French, derived from Latin, which you can see by the numbers of French words in English: administration, revolution and some 140 other words ending in tion; table, stable, adorable, visible, comfortable… another thousand English words are direct French words.
The study of foreign roots in the English language, published in 1973, offered this breakdown of sources: Latin, 28.34 percent; French, 28.3 percent; Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Dutch, 25 percent; Greek 5.32 percent; no etymology given, 4.03 percent; derived from proper names, 3.28 percent; all other languages, less than 1 percent.
Cradle, however, is one of the Celtic words that survived. When a friend of yours who happens to be a police officer is invited in your home you will tell him: “come in!” (which is Germanic. A German or Dutch would say kommen sie herein or kom binnen or simply komm…) but if he enters with a warrant and writes his report he will write: I effected an entrance – j’ai effectué une entrée, which is the French form. English legal languages uses French words as misdemeanor, bailiff (bailli), pleading (plaider), attorney (atorné, old French)…
The English people became Christians under continental influence, same as all of us between Jerusalem, Båtsfjord, the Shetland Islands, Iceland (thanks to Irish monks), and Gibraltar. It began during the First Century, and became official in 325 A. D. when, by a ruling of Emperor Constantin, the whole empire (England included) adopted Christianity as its official religion.
England abandoned Christianity during the so-called Dark Ages until it was reintroduced first around 570 by Saint Gildas, who may have been from Ireland or Brittany, then in 593 by Saint Augustine of Canterbury on a mission for the Pope. In the 15th Century the Reformation spread from several roots.
England was one of them, adapting the Lutheran example for relations between the Kingdom and the Church by deciding that the English Monarch would be the Head of the Church.
Early English pioneers of the reform process that came to be called the Reformation were Peter Waldo (12th Century) under the influence of Arnold of Brescia (Italian), John Wycliffe (14th Century, Oxford Univ.), and Jan Hus (15th Century) Czech-born priest, who was burned as a heretic but left a formidable influence, see Hussite wars.
England progressively practiced Sovereignty of the People (Democracy, a Greek word) and the Rule of Law (Republican principle creating at same time the principle of Limited Government therefore Sovereignty of the Individual, a Latin word) at her own speed, under early Danish influence (see Danelaw and note that law is a Viking word), later continental influence (see Erasmus), ahead of most of the Continent, but behind Switzerland (1293) and Iceland (935).
The democratic principle itself originated in Greece.
All people of Celtic or Latin origin are today members of the EU.
Of the Viking and Saxon descendants, all today are members of the EU, except Norway who is member of the customs union only.
All various Protestant people in Europe are members of the EU, except Switzerland who is a member of the European Economic Community but not of the EU.
As well, all members of the European Union are democracies, with some question marks regarding Hungary. But the European Union itself is neither a State nor a Nation. Not yet!
It is a club of Nations agreeing to gradually merge their laws and regulations, each progress being marked by a Treaty such as Schengen, Lisbon or Maastricht.
It is through treaties signed by sovereign nations that the EU is bound to the Rule of Law and to Democracy. Until of course it becomes a federal nation itself… which is not the case yet.
Why would anyone from England, in their right mind, respect, like and feel the need to remain in the EU?
What makes that unique difference between England and all these nations sharing with England all these common values and all this common heritage, to the point that so many English still talk and write about the Continent as Rupert Murdoch dictates, as if Julius Caesar, Philip of Habsburg, Louis XIV, Napoleon or the Kaiser were still in charge?
