Some here, and on other sites, have talked about leaving the EU being an act of patriotism to save the freedoms that our fathers and grandfathers fought and died for and that we are giving it all up by taking our right full place in the EU and the community of Europe. I disagree. Our fathers and grandfathers fought for not only the freedom of the British people but the freedom of the whole of Europe and the world. This is what being in the EU and the community of Europe is all about. We cannot be safe or truly free if Europe is not safe and truly free. That was the lesson learnt between 1914 and 1945, is the reason why the EEC/EU was set up and we leave and destroy it at our own peril.
This is what we learnt and what Winston Churchill expressed in his speech to the Congress of Europe, in the Hague, on May 7 1948.
This is a précis of what he said:
We shall only save ourselves from the perils which draw near by forgetting the hatreds of the past, by letting national rancour and revenge die, by progressively effacing frontiers and barriers which aggravate and congeal our divisions, and by rejoicing together in that glorious treasure of literature, of romance, of ethics, of thought and toleration belonging to all, which is the true inheritance of Europe, the expression of its genius and honour, but which by our quarrels, our follies, by our fearful wars and the cruel and awful deeds that spring from war and tyrants, we almost cast away.
The Movement for European Unity must be a positive force, deriving its strength from our sense of common spiritual values. It is a dynamic expression of democratic faith based upon moral conceptions and inspired by a sense of mission. In the centre of our movement stands the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law. It is impossible to separate economics and defence from the general political structure. Mutual aid in the economic field and joint military defence must inevitably be accompanied step by step with a parallel policy of closer political unity. It is said with truth that this involves some sacrifice or merger of national sovereignty. But it is also possible and not less agreeable to regard it as the gradual assumption by all the nations concerned of that larger sovereignty which can alone protect their diverse and distinctive customs and characteristics and their national traditions all of which under totalitarian systems would certainly be blotted out for ever.
Some time ago I stated that it was the proud mission of the victor nations ... to rebuild Europe from its ruins and make its light shine forth again upon the world. Thus for us and for all who share our civilisation and our desire for peace, there is only one duty and watchword: Persevere. That is the command which should rule. Persevere along all the main lines that have been made clear and imprinted upon us by the bitter experiences through which we have passed. Persevere towards those objectives which are lighted for us by all the wisdom and inspiration of the past.
A high and a solemn responsibility rests upon us here... ... If we allow ourselves to be rent and disordered by pettiness and small disputes, if we fail in clarity of view or courage in action, a priceless occasion may be cast away forever. But if we all pull together and pool the luck and the comradeship - and we shall need all the comradeship and not a little luck if we are to move together in this way - and firmly grasp the larger hopes of humanity, then it may be that we shall move into a happier sunlit age, when all the little children who are now growing up in this tormented world may find themselves not the victors nor the vanquished in the fleeting triumphs of one country over another, but the heirs of all the treasures of the past and the masters of all the science, the abundance and the glories of the future.
End précis
There is nothing patriotic in leaving the EU and the community of Europe and throwing away everything our fathers and grandfathers fought so hard to create. Don't under value what you have in the vain hope that some promised land of milk and honey exists in some isolationist future where Britain abandons it European friends and neighbours and paddles its own canoe of into the middle of the Atlantic. What happens in Europe will affect us whether we are in the EU or not. The only question is 'how much say do we want?'.
I'm voting remain for a better future for my self, my children, my country, Europe and the world.
VOTE REMAIN
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