Friday 11 March 2011

The problem for UKIP

Richard North, EU Referendum, has an interesting post on the subject of "ism" - one that concerns UKIP.
" It lies at the heart of my long-running dispute with UKIP and my frustration with the Eurosceptic cause. Both are very good at telling us what we are fighting against. But, as Stokes said, it is no use fighting for a negative object. You must have a positive one."
For long I have argued that UKIP's lack of support is due to their insistence on presenting all causes of our ills as being membership of the European Union. They actually have 'old-style' "Conservative" policies - low taxation; strong defence of our nation; immigration; local power; fair, 'flat' taxes - ones that I believe resonate with the majority of the people in this country. So, UKIP, how about concentrating on what are your greatest "selling-points", whilst, as an afterthought, pointing out that to achieve those policies we would have to withdraw our membership of the European Union?

Richard North asks for a new "ism". Well, how about "Britishism"?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was pondering this subject all day and the answer I came to call it Anglicism. No, I do not mean the Church of England. I mean the Anglosphere. But as loose collection of national soulmates.

For this to happen though England will have to re-discover the traits that made her free and have the faith to follow those principles when all else decry them.

The United Kingdom is no more and frankly Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are too statist. The real heart of freedom in the UK is English and for a time was planted in the peripheral nations only for it to be subsumed in Marxist weeds as they complain about England being the sole cause of their problems.

Just a few thoughts...

Ray Griffin
Coventry

Gareth said...

UKIP needs to fight for popular sovereignty - the ability not only to choose who gverns you but also to choose how you're governed.

It's that positive object that will get us out the EU and will get us an English parliament.

Mark Wadsworth said...

"... how about concentrating on what are your greatest "selling-points", whilst, as an afterthought, pointing out that to achieve those policies we would have to withdraw our membership of the European Union?"

Indeed.

I was mildly pro-EU (having fallen for the trap of assuming that if I like other European countries then I must be pro-European; and if I'm pro-European then I must be pro-EU) until a few years ago, when I realised it was nigh impossible to introduce any sort of sensible policies in anything whatsoever as they go against EU law.

So people always tell me "That's a sensible idea, but the EU won't allow it" to which I reply "Well, let's leave the EU then".

Of course Home-Owner-Ism - the belief that council tax is the worst tax, that we are a crowded island, that high house prices are good for us, that banks have to be bailed out etc - is entirely home grown and we cannot blame this on the EU, despite it causes just as much damage to our economy as the EU does.

subrosa said...

Ray Griffin:

Scotland statist? Nearly half aren't and once we waken up we'll be fine. Time England woke up too.

I'm quite happy with Scotism WfW. ;)

Raedwald said...

For Sovereign, Realm and Albion!

WitteringsfromWitney said...

To all commenters above:

Do we really wish to break up the United Kingdom? As MW knows, it is possible for each nation within the UK to have its independence

As with most things that politicians do, devolution was promoted without any thought about future developments, purely to start the implementation of the EU's regionalisation programme, although this was not made known at the time.

However, if the majority view of the four nations is for each to go its own way then so be it. All I ask is can we the people decide, rather than having politicians deciding the result on our behalf?

gillisgraham@gmail.com said...

It's UKIPISM!
I claim my prize.
I just wish I had coined BOLLITICS first.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

G: And the prize is a kick in the.....

Likewise re bollitics, but neither sadly can I.

Caratacus said...

I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but I would have thought "Protectionism" - properly explained, justified and quantified - would have done...

Just a thought.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

C: You make a perfectly valid point. After all, what is defence of the realm, controlling immigration if not practising protectionism.

It is a great pity that MPs do not apply the same protectionism to the country they are supposed to serve as that which they apply to maintaining their own lifestyles, perks and positions!

The Gray Monk said...

The Blair years have seen the UK brought to the brink of being 'sundered' and we can only be thankful that his plans to break England into 9 "Regions" - thereby removing forever the notion of an England and an English Parliament, failed.

The problem is not so much being a member of the EU, but of recovering our sense of self-worth after allowing Blair and the Fabians to undermine us and foster the outcome of the collective loss of faith and confidence in ourselves that began in the 1960s.

Personally I will never vote for a party that canoot 'sell' me the strengths of its policies and focuses only on the "faults" of its opponents. UKIP will never win seats in Westminster until it learns that lesson.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TGM: Your last para:

Which is what my suggestion would change.......

A Serf on the Land of the British EU Barons said...

The trouble with EUReferendum is that if he hasn't thought of it, it doesn't exist. The answer is Constitutionalism - Great Laws of Social interaction defined through individual rights to act against power for ones own self-preservation and for the common good. And I think that some people in UKIP already cottoned on to it a long time ago. It is at the basis of the unlawfulness of the EU.

So, it is true to say that the EU is one facet of the sole cause of all our problems which is the cultural war against us. However, it is easier for UKIP to talk about this and for the listener to understand in terms of the EU. The reason why UKIP has a lack of support is because another facet of the cultural war is the deliberate filtering-out of that message by the complicit media. What there seems to be is a gross misunderstanding of this reality.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Serf: You make an extemely valid point. The problem is that whilst journalists are in the pocket of politicians; whilst we have journalists unworthy of using that job description; it becomes very difficult to get ones message to the public.

I still believe though that UKIP's 'message' is wrong, as do others that support them. They have not recognised a better way in which to 'sell' themselves and their policies.

Whilst EUReferendum does have an 'axe to grind' with Nigel Farage (old history) he is quite astute in his observations. I would like to think he and I are of 'one mind'.