The aspiration of the nationalist soul
Nations have saved themselves from irrelevancy and extinction before. Why can’t we do the same?
‘I will not cease from mental flight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, ‘til we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land’
- Jerusalem, a poem by William Blake
In his magnum opus The Strange Death of Europe, Douglas Murray speaks of the modus operandi of the Western hemisphere already having fizzled out into a dying whimper. In his words, ‘the story has run out’. It’s best days are in the past, and only dark, stormy clouds await us on the horizon, ready to shower us with misery and frustration.
We look back to the Western World’s achievements, in science, art, literature, film, architecture, in general public civility, and think ‘that could never have been us, we can never hold a candle to what came before’.
Christianity, cultural homogeneity, honest pay for honest work, inter-generational employment, and a deep connection with one’s own personal community, are the ties that once bound this nation together that have now almost fully vaporised, and we are breathing the foul consequences of such disrepair.
The public does not have any stake in society, so they see no reason why they must allocate their precious calories towards maintaining it. Nobody knows their neighbours; our culture, economics, politics and even our sacred language have been corrupted and captured by the grotesque imposition of American imperialism; our jobs are fleeting; pay is laughable; and as of the last census, worrying figures show that the number of ‘born-elsewhere residents’ is increasing exponentially.
It is no wonder why many of those who would have taken pride in the nation of fifty years ago have either given up, adopted the half-apathetic, half-reactionary position to ‘ride the tiger’ (simply wait out the storm) or become sucked into the world of extremist politics – a rational and expected reaction to the malaise that afflicts them. All three branches of nationalists will receive nothing from Westminster but open scorn, and the war against their homeland will continue.
But hope must not be lost. Once hope dies, any current or future opportunities for pushing back the tide will vanish. A humanistic nihilism will take root, and the nationalist will adopt a fatal outlook not too dissimilar to Nietzsche’s Final Man:
‘I yearn for winding the clocks back to a more peaceful, prosperous time. When the streets were safe, households could thrive on a sole income, and England was still England. But that is no more and will never return. The best thing I can do is drink myself silly on top of the ashes – same as everyone else’.
Nations have saved themselves from irrelevancy and extinction before. Why can’t we do the same? The road will meander into terrain unexpected and be fraught with unforeseen and seemingly insurmountable challenges, but (in the words of John F Kennedy) the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. How is this accomplished? Well, everyone’s still working on the fine details.
Nevertheless, it is simply human nature to build a better life for yourself, your family, and your tribe, which in a civilised context extends upwards to the wider community and the nation state as a whole. This is why our songs chime with our innate desire to forge a superior future; to depart from this world in a healthier position than when we came into it.
Land of Hope and Glory holds the lyrics ‘make thee mightier yet’, and William Blake’s Jerusalem makes it the mission of the proud Englishmen to bring the most prominent, ancient, and special city in all of Christianity to England’s green and pleasant land. Jerusalem is not plucked from the Middle East brick by brick; it is, after all, only a metaphor for how great England can be.
The construction of a new Jerusalem on these shores should be the aspiration of any nationalist worth their salt, their efforts poured towards the creation, refinement, preservation, and triumph of its art, cultural customs, governmental systems, religious practice, and scientific breakthroughs.
The nationalist shall not cease from mental fight, nor shall their sword sleep in their hand, until this goal is accomplished.