I am a proud European and will so Remain

In my opinion, a decision to leave the European Union would be a major tragedy.

People generally do not appreciate the catastrophe that this would represent, for the United Kingdom, for the European Union, and for the World. I consider myself to be European. I am proud and pleased to be European. I want to remain European, and I will tell you why. It is virtually impossible to reach any conclusions based on the torrent of conflicting information from the politicians, so here is my reasoning.

I have lived outside the United Kingdom for 50 of my 81 years, and am therefore able to view the UK in a broader perspective. If you feel unable to construct this perspective yourself, can I suggest that you scan through some or all of the online documents listed at the bottom here. It is not complicated if you are methodical, but you will soon realise that the complexity of our integration into the EU, a 40-year-long process, is mind-boggling.

To extricate ourselves from this maze of interleaved treaties, agreements, laws, institutions, procedures, ministries, appointments, etc., not just here but throughout the continent and deeply embedded in every aspect of our lives, would take many years if not decades - a truly massive undertaking - and we would necessarily be obliged to create equivalent relationships with many other countries, individually, at the same time.

Couple this fearsome task with the cost and the risk of such an upheaval spanning many years, and you have to ask "Is it worth it"? - just so that we can call ourselves "free", when of course the reality is that one can never be free at this stage of human civilisation anyway, such "freedom" being illusory. Ego is a very poor reason for altering the history of a continent with a simple X on a voting paper..

My own conclusion is that it is most decidedly not worth it, especially when we have nothing to lose by remaining in the EU. The gains from leaving would have to be immense, and they are not. So I will be voting to Remain.

In terms of economics, neither of the campaigns has succeeded in providing a convincing argument to support its diverse, often ridiculous claims. We can safely assume that there is little to choose between them. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and a few percentage points either way will not alter this greatly. We are quite wealthy enough already, and rather than fretting over whether we will be better off or worse off, we should consider how we can best give some of our less fortunate neighbours a leg-up on the slippery pole of development. We are a "Christian country", are we not?

In terms of decency and morals, would it be right to "sail away" into the sunset leaving almost 500 million people in serious danger of imminent collapse of the entire European structure, and abandoning the many countries of the old soviet block which have pinned all of their hopes for economic development on membership of a European Union that will provide them with support during their most difficult stages of development.

In terms of peace and prosperity for the entire continent, one only has to glance at the History-of-Conflicts document (below) to realise that we now have an opportunity to finally end the death and destruction that has bedevilled Europe for many centuries, of which our own dear nation, known widely as "Perfidious Albion" for its sneaky ways, has frequently been the instigator. I have long held the belief that if Napoleon Bonaparte had succeeded in his noble endeavour to unify the continent over two centuries ago, Europe would now be the undisputed leader of a civilised planet. What stopped him? Why we did of course.

In terms of social development, the UK and the rest of the continent are poles apart. The UK is a 9 to 5 society, heavily "telly" dependent, unsociable and unsophisticated. I lived in Paris for 30 years, and the difference between this highly gregarious city, with local streets and restaurants humming from dawn to midnight, and the peasant-like population of isolated Britain, is stark indeed. We desperately need to mix freely with our continental neighbours, and for some of their more civilised ways to rub off on us.

In Paris, you always greet the staff of a store as you enter, and bid them farewell with thanks as you leave, whether you made a purchase or not. Not to do so is considered unmannerly. While we are boozing ourselves into an alcoholic stupor, continentals are dining or sipping coffee on outdoor terraces and conversing intelligently. When our school-age young people are walking about half naked or looking like tramps, French schools are turning out well-dressed, well-mannered and well-spoken young people who are ready to assume the responsibilities of the new generation.

From the viewpoint of national loyalty and identity, consider the United States, which consists of 50 separate States (e.g. countries), each with its own Governor, State Government, State Legislature and Supreme Court, and its own history, and yet, if you ask a Texan for his nationality, he will say, proudly to the point of ferocity, that he is American. You may not be able to visualise yourself with such loyalty to the European Union, but remember that everybody alive today will be dead and forgotten just 100 years from now (a very short time in the historical perspective), and those who live then will have different loyalties altogether. On the other hand, they may roundly curse those who were so foolish as to bring about European collapse just one century before.

In the vexed area of immigration, waging war on the migrating hordes is hardly a positive and sustainable solution, whether we are Europeans or not. We would do far better to act in concert with our neighbours in order to remove the motives that drive these mass movements of people, such as poverty, sectarian wars, and overpopulation. Humanity will have quadrupled its numbers in my lifetime alone.

There you have it. As I see it, the Brexit/Leave case does not have a single redeeming feature. Leave people have been bamboozled by notions of independence and freedom, when in fact neither of these is practically achievable in this day and age, whether we are in the EU or not. If the EU is good enough for 27 other member states, why not the UK? Why are we so special?

The Referendum is a decision for a generation or even for a lifetime. It is a divorce with no option to remarry. It is quite unlike a domestic election in which one party or other is chosen for 5 years and with very little influence on a Ship of State that is basically run by the Civil Service anyway. It is vital that we accept our responsibilities as intelligent adults, and vote to Remain in the European Union.

Documents to scan

1) European Union - a brief history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union#Maastricht_Treaty_.281992.E2.80.93present.29

2) The Economy of the European Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union

3) European Integration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_integration

4) A history of conflicts in Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Europe

The views expressed here are those of a James Carey, a local resident, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Shepway Liberal Democrats or the Liberal Democrat Party.