A nationalist, though not by accident.

An interesting post over at the CEP blog by Wonko.

He looks at the term nationalist and the bad press the title now has with the BNP and others describing themselves as nationalists too and he concluded that the CEP are nationalists too, within certain limited descriptions, a sort of accidental nationalism.

Now I'm a nationalist too, though I certainly don't consider this to be an accident in any way shape or form. Am I proud to be English? Well yes in the same way that Scots are proud to be Scottish though not in the sense of feeling that England is superior to any other nation. Wonko and others describe this as civic nationalism, which to one extent political parties such as the SNP parade themselves as (despite their lunatic fringe). So my nationalism is inclusive a sort of Anglo Ergo Sum, that is anyone can be English if they accept that they are, this includes any other sub-groups such as Roman Catholics, C of E, or Islamics, it doesn't go by skin colour, religion, political persuasion or any other of the petty differences that some ethnic nationalists choose to make their group exclusive.

This is also why I'm in favour of an English Parliament, in a sense it's about fairness, it's not about the availability of cancer drugs or free prescriptions, how other nations spend their health budget is entirely up to them. It's about when MP's from other nations vote on matters (and get them passed despite a majority of English MP's voting against them) such as University fees, and private finance initiative hospitals that only affect the English that grates.

So yes I'm a nationalist in that I think England should run its own affairs whether alone or as part of a federal UK, I'm not bothered. I don't feel any urge to go out and conquer other nations nor dominate them politically. I'm proud of my country and its past history, yes warts and all, because it's made us what we are, no better or worse than anyone else. Nor do I see any reason whatsoever to apologise for anything done in said past, not for slavery, not for having an empire, nor for bombing Germany during WW2 or anything else the politically correct pressure group loonies want to bring to my attention. Yes we made mistakes in the past, but then again the last guy who never made a mistake got crucified so I see no need to beat myself up on that score.

So, whilst some might see themselves as accidental nationalists, I wont, though the term has been hijacked by racial/ethnic nationalists. My nationalism is a purer form, simply a great love for this wonderful country England and the English. Not the government, not the political parties or their members, not the racists, nor the radical Islamists nor those who hate patriotism, because they don't matter. It's the people who want to be English who matter, who accept tolerance, love their land and who want to preserve all that is good about it who matter.

So I'm no accidental nationalist, just not an ordinary one.