Douglas Carswell's Blog

John Stuart Mill on defence

A constituent emails me a quote from John Stuart Mill (No Tory, he):

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

Something for the "not-in-our-name", Blair-hating crowd to contemplate? 

But also perhaps something for all MPs to reflect on as we consider the future size and uses of the defence budget. 

If we are not careful - and a good deal less incompetent when spending what money we do have for defence - might we not soon find ourselves kept free by the exertions of America?

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