What are you supposed to do when you realise that the generally accepted implementation of “Democracy” is totally undemocratic ? Would it be right to break the law in order to change it ? How would you begin ?
It’s becoming increasingly apparent to me that the whole concept of party-politics is totally broken. If you become a member of a political party you are expected to follow the party line even if you disagree with the point they are pushing. If you get outvoted you have to push your opponents point of view, despite it frequently being diametrically opposed to yours. To me, these days at least, that is tantamount to being a traitor, and every day we watch these traitors giving passionate speeches on TV and radio promoting things they did, once, disagree with. Whether they have changed their opinion through loyalty, persistence, or by 1984-style coercsion doesn’t matter; surely that’s ridiculous. Why do we have political parties ? Why do we have professional politicians ? None of it makes any sense to me any more. At the last general election there were many, many independent councillors who were derided by the conventional parties as being ‘single-policy’ options. But what is wrong with that ? At least it’s honest!
So many times we heard angry people who were standing against their traditional party of choice (usually Labour) because they felt angry enough to do so. So many times we heard the phrase “I don’t know anything about politics, I just…” and it gave me a small shot of joy.
Surely democracy is about the people and should involve them. If someone feels that their environment is being ruined by people in the wrong then they should should be able to stand against them. And personally I’d much rather have an impassioned person acting on my behalf than some party-monkey who does just what the leader wants – especially when the leader is a deluded, power-tainted, corrupt, messianic, nutjob.
The old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely has never been more clearly demonstrated than now.
Back to the mundane, it’s been a good few days. A fun, albeit surreal, night in Greenwich on Friday lead to a relaxed weekend. Saw some great films, had a superb curry and it culminated in a kebab at my mum and dads with Frances and Marshall which was the perfect end to a nice weekend. In fact the only downside of the whole thing is my bed: it’s crap and full of pointy springs. I can’t wait until we get to Philadelphia and can invest in a luxury bed…