Ask Not…

I have always felt that JFK got it wrong in 1961 when he advised people to “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” I believe it is perfectly reasonable and proper for people to ask what their country can do for them, and this applies particularly in countries such as Northern Ireland, where there is a choice between two nationalities.

I understand the point JFK was making about people working together for the common good; he was seeking to invoke a sense of unity, belonging and loyalty at a time when the potential for conflict with the Soviet Union was growing. During the long conflict that we refer to as the Troubles, tribal loyalty was strong on both sides and people were expected to be loyal to their side; often there were negative and sometimes violent consequences for not sticking with your own side.

Since the Good Friday Agreement, it has been accepted that people are now free to peacefully choose their own nationality. We can collectively choose an Irish future or a British future. Like P7 children who have to choose which secondary school to attend, we would be daft not to attend the ‘open days’ and listen to the talks in advance. We should weigh the options before we have to choose our future direction.

Such exploration of the options is very unpopular within my unionist community; there is still a strong disapproval of anyone listening to those who would tell us that the grass would be greener on the other side – this is seen as ‘disloyal’. On last Friday’s BBC Talkback I heard Ben Lowry describe unionists attending Ireland’s Future events as ‘Sinn Féin puppets’.

For some, national identity is ideological, it is not about assessing which option offers the best for our people. This translates into voting for parties that put ideology before good government such as Sinn Féin and the DUP, and look how well that is going at Stormont.

Make no mistake, many unionists feel Irish unity would be a horrible experience; I have heard it described as being like the death of our national identity.

If you stop to think about it, most of us are not frightened of being dead; rather, we are all very much afraid of the process of dying. Similarly, while most of us know that we could exist perfectly well with an Irish passport and an Irish government, we very much fear the chaos and disruption that the process of creating a united Ireland would bring.

Ben Lowry has stated that that Brexit did not encourage as big an increase in support for Irish unity as he had feared, and I suspect it is because Brexit was so disorganised and so badly planned that people fear a repeat of that mess. Brexit has put some people off the idea of living through constitutional change.

Given that we live in a place where a Border Poll is likely at some stage and that we will be asked to choose our constitutional future, choosing not to attend talks, investigate the issues or ask hard questions amounts to wilful carelessness.

Before we have to make a choice, we should be asking