Since Heath bamboozled us into joining the Common Market successive governments of all parties have treated the electorate and democracy with contempt. John Locke, in his Second Treatise of Government, declared: "The Legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands. For it being but a delegated power from the People, they who have it cannot pass it to others". Locke was articulating an Anglo-Saxon precept dating back centuries. The basis of Common Law and Democracy in this country is consent. Heath preferred the European Civil Code version of rule by elite diktat. Many of his successors have too.
And now? Déjà vu 2022. Just as the Common Market/EEC/EU was forced on to people without a proper debate and by ignoring the obvious democratic / economic problems inherent in the project. Fifty years later Johnson, aided by Labour, LibDems and the SNP, is leading people by the nose to Net Zero. No debate. Ruin by an arrogant elite that ignores science.
Wind and Solar generation have proved incapable of meeting energy needs. The cost has been staggering. In June 2011, the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) published a study of the costs and implied oncosts of the UK's Renewable Electricity subsidies. It concluded that the total cost of the subsidies to renewable electricity generators would be in the region of £100bn by 2030. The current energy crisis is a direct result of politicians (all parties) ignoring their duty to those who elected them. They have preferred to follow a quasi religious movement based on dodgy statistics and anarchist engendered hysteria. Net Zero is already creating fuel poverty, it can only get worse. People are going to suffer because the government is neglecting its duty. Industry and jobs will suffer for the same reason.
There is no reason for us to be in this position. We have hundreds of years of both coal and gas reserves. In 2013 (then Prime Minister) David Cameron stated that if just 10 per cent of known reserves of shale gas could be extracted, it would provide the equivalent of the UK's total gas needs for 51 years. Bowing to pressure from an illiterate, but vocal minority Johnson's government stopped the Shale Gas industry. We now import coal rather than mining our own. We could be energy self-sufficient. We could be powering ahead based on our own resources. We could be turning BREXIT dreams into a booming time of prosperity. Instead we are heading for a catastrophe. The suggestion by Tory Transport Minister Trudy Harrison that private ownership of motor vehicle should be banned is the thin end of a frightening wedge.
It is welcomed by the Anarchists who dreamed up the scheme as part of their plan to force the world back to a preindustrial society. That idea poses the SEVEN BILLION question. In 1800 the world's population was One Billion. Now it's Eight Billion. Can the supporters of Net Zero explain what they are going to do with the surplus SEVEN BILLION HUMANS?
The Tory party is convulsed over 'Partygate' and whether on not Johnson lies more than other politicians. Self indulgently they ignore the problems facing the country in favour of a short-term focus on their own jobs. Supporters of the status quo do so for a reason summed up by Hilaire Belloc: "And always keep a-hold of Nurse For fear of finding something worse". Unfortunately, Nurse Boris's woke green agenda is the Lion of Belloc's cautionary tale.
I don't think I'm alone in finding Alice's conversation with the Cheshire Cat apposite:
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
Just like Alice, we did not 'choose' to 'Come Here', we are falling down a hole created by politicians.
John Lock defined the purpose of government. "The great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their lives, liberties and property". This simple statement has been, and is, ignored by those elected to defend it.
As politicians worry about how long they can keep their jobs, history provides a cautionary tale. The country joined the then Common Market based on Ted Heath's lies. The Maastricht treaty (creating the EU) was the next step on the road to a United States of Europe. Believing an optical illusion would win the day, Major had the word 'Federal' removed from the treaty. It did not fool democrats. With no mandate or real public support, Major's cabal pushed forward supported by the Labour and Liberal parties. Parliament approved the treaty and the UKjoined the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism) designed specifically to prepare currencies for membership of EMU (European Economic and Monetary Union) and the Euro. If Major had had his way, we would have adopted the Euro.
Major squandered political capital and the nation's wealth on an idea that was fundamentally opposed todemocracy and the countries needs. Being kicked out of the ERMsaved us from falling victim to his machinations. Quite odd that we may well have to thank Soros, a devotee of Federalism, for helping our escape. Major, in thrall to his European Empire dream ignored reality and led the Tory party to its greatest defeat ever in 1997.
Now, Johnson with his Net Zero tax and spend policies is repeating Major's mistakes. Ignoring the needs of the country. Ignoring democracy, Ignoring science. Ignoring the lessons of the last centuries two greatest Chancellors, Neville Chamberlain and Nigel Lawson, that cutting tax and red tape is the only way to ensure prosperity for all.
Johnson seems determined to go from Hero to Zero. He has no divine right to office. He has broken his contract with those who elected him. The British people do not deserve to follow him down the Rabbit hole. It is time for Tory MPs to take stock, remember who pays their wages and put the country first. By so doing, they will put their own careers first too.