Am I the only small-c conservative who is willing to admit to being a teensy-weensy little bit worried about a No Deal Brexit? Does this make me a coward? If so, I am a coward.
It is not that I am buying the whole Project Fear/Project Hysteria argument, but it should be said that leaving the EU without a deal does not sit well with my inner conservatism. Sure, I get that conservatism must mean more than maintaining the status quo, especially if that status quo is profoundly undemocratic and only heading in one direction on the fast train to an ever deeper federal Europe. However, as someone who deep down loathes change, who seeks to conserve the best and reform the worst, I’m starting to lose sleep over the whole thing.
At least I am willing to admit this, however. I understand that a No Deal Brexit does clash with some basic principles of conservatism, namely that one should be prudent, one should value stability and one should not dash head first over a cliff in search of utopia.
My Remainer friends and cousins however, those who normally live on the political Left, have flipped like a Pop-Tart when it comes to Brexit. They are the ones who seek to conserve and keep Britain in the European Union, who bemoan all this uncertainly and change. Normally these same Lefties tell us change is inevitable and that we should all get on board the train marked Revolution or just shut the hell up.
Indeed, in most other areas of life the Leftie Remainers have no problem with revolution: redefining marriage is easy-peasy, redefining what it is to be male and female should be welcomed, pilling up the national debt for future generations to pay off is barely mentioned and so on and so forth. Yet the very same people who force these radical changes on the rest of us are clinging to the European Union like fleas to a rat. This is despite the corruption, this is despite the democratic deficit, this is despite Juncker, which are features of European Union. The alternative is much worse, the Remainers warn us. A pity they don’t apply this in most other areas of policy-making.
What we are witnessing is the great topsy-turvy world of Brexit: where the Remainers are the new conservatives and the Leavers are those willing to take a risk for a better Britain. I’m still on the Brexit train as I put this revolution in with the American Revolution, which Burke supported, if memory serves. It is, unlike the French Revolution, conservative in nature: a return to democracy and a challenge to the undemocratic elitists. But sacrifices will have to be made. A No Deal Brexit is fast becoming the only option left. It’s time to prepare for it.
