HISTORICAL
VALUE
Being
neither nationalist nor republican,
I
have little sympathy for either side
In
the Irish Civil War; though I believe
That,
under the prevailing circumstances,
The
Free Staters were effectively right,
Since
an Irish republic embracing
The
whole of Ireland is no less
Of
a pipe dream now than it was then,
And,
besides, the British were implacably opposed
To the 32-county Republican ideal.
To
me, both republican Nationalism
And
nationalist Republicanism
Are
inadequate for solving the Ulster problem,
Which demands not a democratic
But
a radically theocratic approach,
Commensurate
with Social Transcendentalism
And
the establishment in Eire
Of
an Irish Social Transcendental Centre,
The
first of a number of such Centres
That
would eventually form a world-wide federation
Of supra-national peoples.
Nationalism,
like Republicanism, is limited
To
a given span of evolutionary time, corresponding
To
an atomic age, and it has to be admitted that,
Due
to historical circumstances, the Irish came late
To
both Nationalism and Republicanism -
At the tail-end, so to speak, of the nationalist age.
Consequently,
to regard either Nationalism
Or
Republicanism as ideals worthy of eternal sanction
Is
a serious mistake since, in effect,
They
are distinctly temporal.
Better
to regard them as means to a higher end -
Namely
the attainment of
The
most radically theocratic absolutism -
Than to treat them as ends in themselves.
Better
not to unduly compromise
With
democratic procedure and tradition -
More
suited, in any case, to peoples
Like
the British and the Americans - than
To
take them to heart and/or
Seek
to push democracy in a more radical direction.
Better
the minimum compromise
That
permits one the maximum theocratic freedom,
And
thus facilitates progress towards
A
truly Irish ideological integrity ...
Albeit one capable of wider global application.
The
modicum of political freedom
In
which to manoeuvre and subsequently engineer
The
higher end - therein, it seems to me, lies
The
historical value of the Irish Republic!