Political Despair

Political despair: that's what we should guard against, W. says. Political defeatism.

The danger is that we are in love with the loss of politics, W. says. That we are happy with it; that we depend on it. That we love Britain, even as we pretend to hate it. That we love our own inertia, our own impotence …

'The self must be broken in order to become itself', W. quotes from Kierkegaard. And mustn't politics, too, be broken? Mustn't politics, too, be brought to its knees?

There’s always a danger of revelling in our woes, of taking refuge in depression: that's what Kierkegaard warns us of, W. says. We need to intensify our despair, to despair over it, that’s what Kierkegaard tells us, W. says. We must despair over our despair of politics! We must double up our despair, setting despair against despair, if we are ever to transform despair into faith!