What is a nation for?

I ask the question because plainly, our leaders have forgotten the answer.

Civilisation was created to solve a problem.  In the wild, animals are the original hunter gatherers, existing from one meal to the next.  They roam the land, either grazing their territories or hunting the herds for food.  An ecology of predator or prey where everything is immediate: there is no surplus to protect beyond fighting off the carrion feeders who would steal your latest kill, & no cooperation beyond the hunting pack.

For hundreds of millennia, early humans lived that same way, until the development of agriculture changed things.  Quite suddenly, you stayed in one place & worked to grow your food, creating & storing a small surplus to see you through the winter.  But there was a problem: the predators were still there, only now they were packs of bandit thugs who preferred stealing the hard earned fruits of your labours, rather than working to produce their own.

The necessary solution was the invention of civilised society.  Cooperation began as farmers came together to defend their produce from the bandits, eventually using part of their surplus to hire others to protect them.  Leaders arose, organisation emerged, society evolved from there & recorded time began.  Nation states are simply a consequence of the arrival of civilisation.  Their primary purpose is the protection of their inhabitants.  Usually referred to as “the defence of the realm”.  All else is secondary.

The defence of the realm.  What does that mean? 

In one word, SECURITY.  But security of what & against what?  As I understand it, security on a national level means four things:

·      Protection of our homeland borders against threats, invasions or attacks from any external source so we remain a sovereign nation & can make our own rules.

·      Protection of our homeland civilisation, our way of living, our culture & our customs - the things that make us, us. After all, if we lose those here, where do WE then go?

·      Protection of our homeland against crime & lawlessness, so our children & vulnerable citizens need not fear walking in our streets.

·      Protection of our homeland economy, so our citizens can thrive & prosper by the fruits of their own hard work & enterprise.

Despite the delusions of some among us, it is clear we do still need to protect our nation & local communities against all these threats.  The predators, the workshy & the bandit thug gangs may have taken a different form since the dawn of history, but they are all still there, inside & outside the UK, looking at us & all saying the same thing: “Look at that!  I like that!  I want that.  I’m going to take it from you!”. 

Our duty, our responsibility to our future generations is to stop that happening, by recognising the threats & defending our nation against them.  That is, after all, what our nation is for.  Our government is failing in that duty.  We must change that or quite simply our nation, as we know it & love it, will die.  All other considerations are secondary.