Modern politics: Give the other fellow hell – and the country nothing at all

131214perception

Politics is perception.

It isn’t about government any more. It seems none of the main parties are interested in gaining Parliamentary dominance in order to improve British citizens’ chances of leading successful lives, serving their needs by creating the best conditions in which they can prosper.

Quite the opposite – it seems clear that the intention is to crush those very citizens beneath the heel of the State (most hypocritically in the case of the Conservatives), forcing the people to serve the interests of the elected members.

What a sad State to be in. Politics is no longer even “the art of the possible”, as Otto von Bismarck once put it – unless we are discussing possible ways to fleece the electorate.

Now, the aim of the game is to shape the way the masses perceive current events. Control of the media is vital, and a series of strong statements – supported by those media but not necessarily by the facts – is considered all that is necessary to win.

It isn’t, as we shall see. But this is why we hear Tories screaming on and on, week after week, that they are clearing up a mess (no they’re not) that was Labour’s fault (no it wasn’t); that the benefit bill is too high (no it isn’t – really, it isn’t!), and the only solution is to cut support for people who desperately need it and put them into deep poverty and destitution (no it isn’t). These are positions taken by the current Coalition government and none of them are supported by the facts.

Then there is the running-down of opposing politicians. Labour’s Jack Dromey was on the receiving end of Conservative ire yesterday, after he tweeted a message about a lad from a Royal Mail sorting office being its “Pikey”. He meant that Gareth Martin’s nickname in his place of work was “Pikey”, after the character of Private Pike, the youngest member of the platoon in Dad’s Army – but Tories including David Morris went as far as writing to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, demanding an investigation into the use of a derogatory term for members of the Roma and Irish travelling communities and questioning whether it was an incitement to racial hatred, of all things.

Of course it wasn’t. It was an attempt to get a fairly simple idea into Twitter’s 140-character limit that failed because of a word that had a double meaning.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Sarah Champion accused Conservative MPs of making sexist gestures at female members of the Opposition, while they are speaking in the House of Commons. If this is correct (and it’s hard to tell, because televised debates concentrate mainly on whoever is speaking), then the intention cannot be as open to interpretation as Mr Dromey and his “Pikey”. Interestingly, I had to use an MSN news report as reference because the BBC News item seems to have disappeared – which tends to support my point.

Constituencies up and down the country have been going through the motions of choosing the candidates who will fight the 2015 election – and what a well-managed process it is! I wonder how many of these candidates were the preferred choice of their Party heirarchy, who then contrived to convince their members that the choice was democratic? But we were all shocked at the suggestion of corruption in Falkirk, weren’t we?

How many new candidates will be besuited youngsters, with scant work experience other than as gophers for sitting Parliamentarians, councillors or devolved Parliamentarians/Assembly members, brandishing their degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics as though they were magic talismans that would guarantee their entry to the highest offices in the land?

How many of these candidates will be brave enough to have a voice of their own, and how many will simply spout homogeneous party lines, carefully-worded so that they can apply to any constituency?

And if they win their seat, how many of them will stand up for the rights and livelihoods of their constituents, rather than obediently voting through every corrupt bid to drain us of power and money?

Not many, I’ll warrant.

Look at your own representatives – and the candidates who hope to replace them. What do you see?

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16 Comments

  1. Colin M. Taylor December 14, 2013 at 9:41 pm - Reply

    As I see it, we have Playground gangs.battling each other to be ‘Top Gang’, with anyone not in any gang either manipulated for Gang advantage or Collateral Damage.
    It’s about time we got rid of Playground Gangs and put some ADULTS in charge

  2. jaypot2012 December 14, 2013 at 10:32 pm - Reply

    I couldn’t agree more!

  3. […] Politics is perception. It isn't about government any more. It seems none of the main parties are interested in gaining Parliamentary dominance in order to improve British citizens' chances of lead…  […]

  4. Alan Grimes December 15, 2013 at 1:55 am - Reply

    Very well said but short of a revolution how do we get the masses to think and vote!

    • Phil Else December 15, 2013 at 4:37 pm - Reply

      That there is the Big Issue! Answers on a postcard… :/

  5. Smiling Carcass December 15, 2013 at 4:16 am - Reply

    The problem with modern politics is simple; no effective opposition.

    Traditionally we had the Labour left and Tory right, with the Liberals (they can call themselves whatever they want today- liberal by name and nature- not necessarily a good thing since they try to be all things to all men) rattling around the middle, lurching left to right as the mood took/takes them.

    We no longer have an effective opposition; we can vote Tory right or labour slightly-less-right.

    Why is this? Because the traditional Labour Party, those who came up from the grass roots, were self educated and opened the doors of the universities to us were the architects of their own destruction, since the nouveau Left aren’t really that at all. They are university educated ponces that “brandish their degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics” and believe we can and should all do the same and if we can’t achieve, then we should go without. The problem is we can’t all be doctors, lawyers or ponces politicians, for reasons too many to list here so they should forget their political education and get a real job for 5 years before considering employment deciding our futures.

  6. Thomas M December 15, 2013 at 5:14 am - Reply

    At the highest levels, they are all in it for themselves. I dislike the Tories as they would plunge me into poverty if they could. If they win the next election they might well get the chance to. I detest the Lib Dems for helping them, I don’t trust Labour, think UKIP are evil, and know the TUSC will never get anywhere.

  7. jaynel62 December 15, 2013 at 5:43 am - Reply

    To change this behaviour requires increased active membership of all levels of Party Politics – we need strong minded people to become candidates – then maybe, people might use their vote! A truly vicious circle

  8. Jim December 15, 2013 at 9:11 am - Reply

    I watched Psychopath Night on Channel 4 last night.

    Apparently psychopaths exhibit an almost complete lack of remorse when they do wrong, never recognise that anything is their fault (always blaming others for things which go wrong), have the capacity to switch charm on and off (sometimes powerfully but in an emotionless fashion which makes people think that there isn’t something quite right about them), are completely self-focused and selfish (only being interested in actions that benefit themselves), and are game players (always seeking excitement and pleasure from beating somebody or being better than somebody). Such people lie and manipulate others expertly, feeling as if they have a special dispensation to do what they want and couldn’t care less afterwards what the consequences their actions cause in the lives of others.

    Doesn’t this sound like pretty much any politician, particularly Tory politician, that you care to mention. Aren’t these traits exhibited in spades by individuals like George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith who lie and dissemble and ruin the lives of the helpless and the innocent and whose policies have led to the premature deaths of ten of thousands of innocent citizens?

    Surely no man or woman with a normal, humane, human brain could or would behave like as these people have behaved, and continue to behave, on a daily basis.

    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/psychopath-night

    • Norma Roberts December 15, 2013 at 1:56 pm - Reply

      I too watched that programme, and when the psychopathic traits were listed Iain Duncan Smith was the first person I thought of! I was also very suprised that politicians were not mentioned in the list of top occupations of psychopaths, although bankers were number one, not much of a surprise there!

      The thing that annoys me most about party politics is how they all disagree with an idea from another party, even though the idea may be a good one, and even though they know it is a good one. On the other side of the coin, those in the cabinet always agree with each other, even if the idea is a bad idea and they know it is a bad idea. If businesses were run like this they would be bankrupt within a year!

      A few may enter politics because they want to make things better and fairer, but I think these people, who do not comply and agree with everything, do not get promoted to positions where they can make a difference, or could cause trouble for their party. They get swallowed up, spat out and are never heard from again.

      • Florence December 16, 2013 at 4:49 pm - Reply

        Unfortunately, businesses are run like this – the boards of all top companies are populated with socio- or psychopaths. The waste of money, and the failure to use the best capital – their workers – as anything other than disposables to lubricate their rise to greatness, well that’s how it goes. That’s why people on the boards are frequent guests at Westminster, get the gongs, and welcome ex-politicians into their corporate class. They are all in together. Add to this toxic mix the class system and we have one hell of a problem. As I think we all know.

        The worst aspect is the constant blaming of the workers for their company plight (just like the government blames the workless for being workless, etc). So they institute mad schemes, in-sourcing, out sourcing, Indian call centres, apply for your own job every year, etc etc and then make people redundant (because anyone daft enough to work for the same company for more than 5 years is always regarded as dead wood) discriminate against older workers, and pay massive amounts to the big 4 consultancies to be told that the company would be fixed of the workers were not so shite, because the leaders are so wonderful, you get the average UK company. It is surprising they actually stay in business, but I put that down to the efforts of the workers trying to do a good job in difficult circumstances.

        (Thank you rant over, but please don’t get me started on IT, no really, don’t)

    • Phil Else December 15, 2013 at 4:38 pm - Reply

      Spot on fellow

  9. amnesiaclinic December 15, 2013 at 5:45 pm - Reply

    This isn’t going to be solved by party politics – it’s 2 heads of the same snake as David Icke says. There have been 2 powerful suggestions of ways people can change the system on the Sonia Poulton Live show on The People’s Voice this last week. One was to remove your voting paper and take it home. Apparently it is not illegal to take your voting paper home to think about your choice and the other is to have an internet or telephone voting system on the Icelandic model of local votes and participation at the local level on local issues.
    Scrap the rest and hand the power back to the people. If enough people removed their votes the system would crash and we would be able to bargain and take back our power.

  10. Colin M. Taylor December 15, 2013 at 10:38 pm - Reply

    I’m pleased to say that I scored 15% on the scale

  11. PendanticGeek December 16, 2013 at 3:50 pm - Reply

    Don’t vote for anyone that can afford to move abroad.

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