Politics is a Serious Business, But Where Are the Serious Politicians?
Politics is a serious business, which makes me wonder if it ought to be left in the hands of politicians.
That's a good joke, but sometimes, doesn't it just feel that the people least qualified to give you the truth about your future, social and economic, are the ones you elected to do just that? Why does that happen to be true at this particular moment in history, more so than ever before? The answer to this conundrum lies in the very simple fact that politics today no longer addresses the issues that we as the electorate know to be very important in our lives.
There is the sneaking suspicion that politics these days is designed to cover up a secret agenda and keep the electorate from finding out what that agenda is.
Why do I feel that? Why do I feel that politics was great when the most important thing we had to do was get slavery abolished, or solve the Irish Question, or give women the vote; politics was essential for getting millions out of slums and giving them access to hospitals and an education so that they could choose what sort of work they would like to do.
In Britain we managed to solve most of our problems by employing good politics.
We had a model for government the rest of the world envied.
It didn't happen so in France or Russia, where politics seemed ineffective against the incumbent power models.
There the only solution was revolution.
Why do I feel that the state we are in today, particularly in the UK, bears greater resemblance to the situations in France and Russia prior to their respective revolutions, than it does to anything in England's glorious political past? I think the answer is that just as the French monarchy and the Tsar operated in a heavenly realm beyond the grasp or understanding (and against the benefit) of ordinary people, I feel we now have an elite in the world who occupy the same ethereal, untouchable plane, and it is they who make the decisions that affect our planet, not our parliaments.
Who we vote for at the next UK election may influence who pays the most income tax at the end of the month, but is it really going to solve any of the great issues facing us today? Are you really more concerned about an extra percentage point of tax on your pay than you are about global warming or the poor in Africa? May I ask something of those in power? Can politics in the UK ever get back to the level it once held in our esteem, when the Gladstones and Disraelis of this country took the real issues and dealt with them?
That's a good joke, but sometimes, doesn't it just feel that the people least qualified to give you the truth about your future, social and economic, are the ones you elected to do just that? Why does that happen to be true at this particular moment in history, more so than ever before? The answer to this conundrum lies in the very simple fact that politics today no longer addresses the issues that we as the electorate know to be very important in our lives.
There is the sneaking suspicion that politics these days is designed to cover up a secret agenda and keep the electorate from finding out what that agenda is.
Why do I feel that? Why do I feel that politics was great when the most important thing we had to do was get slavery abolished, or solve the Irish Question, or give women the vote; politics was essential for getting millions out of slums and giving them access to hospitals and an education so that they could choose what sort of work they would like to do.
In Britain we managed to solve most of our problems by employing good politics.
We had a model for government the rest of the world envied.
It didn't happen so in France or Russia, where politics seemed ineffective against the incumbent power models.
There the only solution was revolution.
Why do I feel that the state we are in today, particularly in the UK, bears greater resemblance to the situations in France and Russia prior to their respective revolutions, than it does to anything in England's glorious political past? I think the answer is that just as the French monarchy and the Tsar operated in a heavenly realm beyond the grasp or understanding (and against the benefit) of ordinary people, I feel we now have an elite in the world who occupy the same ethereal, untouchable plane, and it is they who make the decisions that affect our planet, not our parliaments.
Who we vote for at the next UK election may influence who pays the most income tax at the end of the month, but is it really going to solve any of the great issues facing us today? Are you really more concerned about an extra percentage point of tax on your pay than you are about global warming or the poor in Africa? May I ask something of those in power? Can politics in the UK ever get back to the level it once held in our esteem, when the Gladstones and Disraelis of this country took the real issues and dealt with them?