THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

is eternal vigilance, or so we're told. It's also a matter of understanding what we mean by freedom. In the wrong circumstances, one person's "freedom" is another's enslavement, in which case it isn't freedom at all.

We currently face an epic crisis in this country. It's not just the looming "perfect storm" of peak oil, climate change and ever-decreasing natural resources. It's the crisis of democracy.

In the BBC's "Windfarm Wars" documentary, protesters against the Den Brook Windfarm plans met the news that their legal appeal had failed with the suggestion that democracy had somehow been overruled, and "people power" had counted for nothing.

Of course, that phoney argument depends on a very narrow interpretation of the word "democracy". Such a flexible notion of what democracy might be is typical of the nimby movement. VVASP, for example, proclaimed a triumph for "democracy" when planning permission was refused for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm. And yet various surveys have shown that the majority of Worcestershire residents want windfarms. So Wychavon's rejection of the windfarm plans was in reality an undemocratic triumph for a very small number of biased, bigoted and brainwashed protesters.

Even at the local level, VVASP had to "reinterpret" the outcome of local polls in order to claim a majority of opinion on their side. Parish council polls showed that a clear minority of local residents were prepared to express opposition to the windfarm plans. The practised liars of VVASP managed to convert the results into an "overwhelming majority" of opposition, and because the new MP for Redditch is so craven and dim it was VVASP's doctored and grossly inaccurate figures that were read out at the planning meeting.

The Den Brook Windfarm saga is even more alarming. There, one man is effectively standing in the way of progress, the common good, the nation's need and the will of the vast majority. Mike Hulme's continued attempts to stall the development have developed into a fanatical obsession. Egged on by the propagandists of the Renewable Energy Foundation (motto: "What's Renewables Got To Do With It?"), Mr Hulme has repeatedly proven that democracy can be totally overturned by a handful of single-minded obsessives.

In such an atmosphere, lies become currency. Real freedom has no need to tell lies. The artificial, right-wing "freedom" of the nimby movement is based on and sustained by lies. It cannot therefore be freedom, except in the narrowest definition of the word. And the hypocritical "freedom" desired by such selfish people is, in reality, the destruction of Britain's best interests.

Elsewhere, democracy is working rather well. Germany, responding to the democratic will of the people, is winding down its nuclear industry. Italy looks set to follow suit - once again, the love of right-wing politicians for the nuclear nightmare has not been shared by the majority of voters.

But in Britain, where a dangerously out-of-control right-wing press continually makes up stupid stories about windfarms, and nutty rural immigrants try their hardest to believe these obviously stupid stories, democracy hangs in the balance.

The majority of Britons want renewables, and windfarms score very highly in most surveys. But a tiny minority, fed on misleading and inaccurate propaganda, don't want them. Which means that the UK is lagging behind (or, at least, England is - Scotland has been infinitely more sensible in this matter).

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. It behoves every single one of us to keep a watchful lookout for the sort of lies regularly published by the Murdoch press and the Daily Heil. As the "Windfarm Wars" documentary proved, if just one man relaxes his guard and begins to believe the lies spun by groups like REF, the outcome is a disaster for true democracy, and the entire country is effectively held to ransom by fanatics.

Freedom includes energy security. For future generations, it will also mean freedom from the worst ravages of climate change.

Which is why anti-windfarm nutcases and their cheerleaders in the fascist press must be recognised as the enemies of freedom. The view from their spare bedroom window is all that matters to these maniacs. And to protect their precious views, all of us must surrender our freedoms. We must accept a twisted form of democracy in which the minority dictates. We must fall for every myth and lie about windpower going, even when the stories don't make sense. We must ignore our consciences, along with scientific evidence and the testimonies of thousands who know what windfarms really are, and campaign against the greater good on behalf of a tiny fringe and their warped fixations.

Basically, we must do as we're told by a crazy bunch of liars, fools and frauds.

Is that what we really want?