Check out the talk by Alan Johnson (UK Labor politician, trade union leader, and contender for the PM role w/Gordon Brown professor and editor) over at Harry’s Place.
Our children are going to need to live in a combative democracy in which the mass media and the political and intellectual class are comfortable with the proactive defence of the liberal constitutional order and the open society.
Being ‘comfortable’ for us in the UK means two things, I think.
First, having the will and the resolution to promote that order and that society as non-negotiable normative ends. So enough with the apologetics for them and the self-hatred for us.
Second, understand that when we wage the battle of ideas and defend our way of life we must live up to the highest ideals of our democratic inheritance. We must honour the memory of those who fought and died for it. And are dying for it. So enough with rendition, ghost sites and torture.
Let’s pass our democracy on to our children, but let’s make sure its one they feel such pride in that they will defend it in turn.
Interesting, good stuff, with concrete suggestions for UK policy.
AL, I don’t think the Alan Johnson who gave that speech is the same Alan Johnson who is a member of Parliament. They’re both British and on the Left but I think that they’re two different people.
Okay, now I’m totally tortured. Who is this Alan Johnson, and what is a “Labour Party Fringe meeting”?
From the article:
We must never undercut the moderates
We must be careful with this. There are feigned moderates whose only purpose is to prevent or delay our action by playing to our hopes. I would add – we must not be naive.
This Alan Johnson is a professor at Edge Hill University, editor of Democratiya, and one of the originators of the Euston Manifesto – he’s often referred to as Alan ‘Not the Minister’ Johnson to avoid confusion…
And a fringe meeting is one held around the edges of a party conference by one of various lobby and other groups, in this case a Euston Manifesto meeting associated with the Labour conference in Bournemouth last week.
Peter