This is fact I just accepted and not a question I ever asked. Following my excursion into Irish history yesterday I thought I would look at what other lessons history might have for UKIP. I started with my favourite democratic country, Switzerland, and having believed William Tell freed Switzerland from Austrian tyranny I was disappointed to discover he was as real as say Robin Hood, an invention to make the Swiss feel good about themselves.
Switzerland has always been a small mountainous country surrounded by much larger expansionary militaristic states, France, Prussia, Austria and most importantly the Holy Roman Empire, the dominant mid European power over the whole middle ages. The Holy Roman Emperor was in fact elected by a very selective group of seven people, called conveniently the electors. These included three archbishops and four princes. I hope the parallels with the EU are already becoming clear with Barroso the emperor and Merkel and Sarkozy clearly two of the princely electors and Giscard d'Estang as one of the archbishops. Nothing comes from nothing as Julie Andrews sang.
Switzerland had started to establish itself as a country in the 13th century when it was awarded the status, 'Reichsfrei' meaning it was answerable only to the Emperor and not the neighbouring noble electors. After this the Swiss confederacy , contrary to legend started gobbling up bits of the Austria. The Austrian Hapsburg dynasty was not best pleased and by 1438 they had had enough democracy and turned the Holy Roman Empire into a hereditary monarchy.
The scene was set for a number of wars ending in 1499 when the Swiss confederacy and its allies defeated the Hapsburgs and their allies in 1499 and dictated peace terms to the Hapsburgs. Neighbouring states were not will ing to help the Hapsburgs as they feared they might be next on the Hapsburg list and also some of their cities would throw in their lot with Switzerland who were by common agreement the best soldiers in Europe. And that dear beloved is why the medieval Popes decided to have a Swiss guard and it has continued to this day!
The Swiss confederation has continued to be the best armed, best trained and per capita biggest army in Europe to this day. Even Hitler left Switzerland alone in! The Swiss support their military with their federal cantonal referendum system and a singular lack of a political class. Every Swiss politician has done, and continues to do military service up to the age of 55. I can think of only a handful of British politicians who have served in the armed forces.
More than that every adult Swiss male on starting his national service is given his rifle and when he has completed his 2 years or so national service takes his rifle and ammunition home with him to have to hand if needed. They all do two weeks of refresher training each year up to 55. Is there an epidemic of gun or any other crime in Switzerland, No! Per capita there are more guns in the citizens hands than there is in the USA. This provides a crucial safeguard against the rise of an unpopular political ruling class out of touch with the electors, they can be assassinated or remembering the independent Cantonal system overthrown by armed force. The same thing to a lesser extent in the US where the right to bear arms is enshrined in their constitution and unlike the Swiss they do have a track record of Presidential assassinations.
Political assassinations are not nice but when you consider the damage some politicians do to their own people its clearly the lesser of two evils an can be the only way forward. In the UK we are in such a situation. Gun ownership was severely restricted in the 1920s as a 'temporary' measure by a government terrified of a Communist revolution. Since then these laws have been made permanent, more draconian and tightened at every opportunity so today only criminals and the police have guns and the great mass of the population is left defenceless. With our police looking increasingly above the law when shooting dead unarmed innocent people where does the populace turn? Well in Ireland it was to the paramilitaries and that could happen in the UK also.
Chairman Mao put it brutally and correctly when he said political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Even the boy Dave recently stated it is armed soldiers that won and defend our freedom. Our monarch was unwilling to act to defend her realm from the Lisbon Treaty. The great Reform Act of 1832 was not passed because the parliamentarians of the day led by Wellington thought it a 'good' thing to emancipate the adult males and get rid of rotten boroughs but because they were under the imminent threat of armed civil unrest in which the army could well have sided with the rebels. Rotten boroughs continued, they were transformed into safe seats, and the system was skewed to retain power for the political ruling class.
As a result of this disarming of the UK have now a dominant, career driven, useless political class whose only loyalty is to itself not to our country. It is our political leaders that sold us down the river to the EU for their own sordid ends. Its jobs for the boys and Brussels whores. Seem in this light UKIP is only a microcosm of the UK political class system. Until we change it nothing will change for the better for the ordinary people of the UK. How do we get to a Swiss system? I don't know but it is never going to happen if we continue to send our elected representatives to Brussels. The bordellos, brasseries and restaurants of Brussels will survive very well without UKIP MEPs.
The battles have to be fought in the UK and Yes there may be real fighting with real guns. The Swiss won their total freedom because they had the most experienced, battle hardened troops and the best commanders whom the rank and file trusted. We should look at our history and learn from that how our freedoms were won and protected, by ordinary citizens standing up and fighting for their rights. Our democratic system has become so perverted by the political class it is no longer fit for purpose. A root and branch reform of our democratic processes is as in 1832 the only thing that can save us from armed conflict and its inevitable suffering. Faced with the choice between the good of the people and their own interests we all know which option our political class will take.
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