Don’t you really think it’s all, kinda, sorta... a load of tosh?
HMD
We’ve been through the hubris, we’ve been through the nemesis, perhaps the catharsis has been postponed – 08/05/09, Daniel Hannan MEP
I think this blog has become slightly, no, very myopic. The Palestine/Israel debate has been done countless times before, and of course it is an important issue, now quite possibly more than ever before, but I think we have far more pressing thoughts as Britons that we should be thinking about.
Look at my quote above (ignore that it’s by the odious Hannan). Do you believe that? I believe we’ve been through the hubris (infact, it seems to constantly occur), we’re certainly experiencing the nemesis, but the catharsis? Really? That sounds almost Stalinesque to be honest, purging the government. But no, really, can we purge our government. Do you think it’s possible to ever have a truly honest, open parliament/cabinet/PM. Of course it’s not! Whoever believes that rubbish?
Everything is so cyclical, it’s true that history repeats itself and that couldn’t be more blindingly obvious if it tried. One party messes up, and it is replaced by the other. The fact is, try as you might to call this a democracy, there’s a hell of a lot of flaws. You choose between Labour and Tory. This is your choice and the fact is we’re simply picking the lesser of 2 evils. You pick Tory, or you pick Labour, and if you pick another it is simply a wasted protest vote. We only have 2 choices, and don’t you think it’s rather pathetic that we’re simply choosing the lesser of 2 evils. If you don't like one, you pick the other by default.
Imo, this is a crisis of democracy, scarcely a democracy at all. We have the choice of being led by Cameron or Brown, by a righty or a lefty. That’s it. You realise that? You vote right wing or left wing, or as I said, it’s simply a protest vote. I think that’s a bit pathetic tbh. Of course there are other parties, but they can’t and won’t win. How depressing.
Essentially, one party messes up and the other takes over. Then they mess up, and the former party takes over. This happens time and time and time again. Labour came to power in this blaze of glory in 1997, riding on the failings of the Tories. Do you remember 1990? Possibly not, I wasn’t even 1 until the December. But 1990 was the year that Margaret Thatcher was...removed from power (a perfect example of hubris I’d like to point out). There’s no point getting into the whys and hows, just bear in mind she was hated (pro-authority, new right, ‘Milk Snatcher’, the Belgrano for a start). She was the first leader really to lead ideologically rather than pragmatically, was too authoritarian and laissez-faire economically. Loved by some but hated by many, she was kicked out of her own government! Long long long story short, we had 7 more years with the Conservatives with John Major, and then they faced the worst electoral defeat since the Great Reform Act of 1832. They were vilified and in 1997, New Labour came to power in a blaze of glory...and now what? Merely 12 years later and New Labour are scum who have ruined the country, and thank God the Tories will save us all. How absolutely ridiculous.
We veer from one party to the other – Labour messes up, thank God we have the Tories with their endless rhetoric and finger pointing. In 5/10 years time, when PM Cameron, Osborne the chancellor of the Exchequer *shudder*, Hannan and whoever else is in control have messed up, we’ll be praising New Labour and lo and behold they’ll be back in control; the public has such a short memory.
All we ever do, is vote the lesser of 2 evils. The vast majority of people who vote Labour or Tory, don’t believe in their party, they just don’t know who else to choose and choose the lesser evil of the 2. If you’re right wing, you vote Conservative (no matter how much you agree or disagree with them, what’s the alternative?), if you’re left wing you vote New Labour. However, New Labour is so far away from its original socialist aims and Clause 4 and the rest of it, that even voting for them isn’t particularly left wing anymore. Furthermore, even if you believed in New Labour’s core principles, you’d still be voting for a party which seems to have left us up the creek. What’s the electorate to do? What are you to do? Protest vote? How jejune.
Call this a democracy if you like, but you have 2 choices, and neither of them represent me, and I’m hazarding a guess they don’t represent the majority of you reading. This is so depressing. Knowing that the Tories are coming to power soon. We've had 12 years of New Labour; mass immigration, boom and bust/economic problems, all the problems the papers moan about (whether these are issues or not isn’t my point, my point is that the public view them as issues, which is the more pertinent point) and now the majority of people will vote conservative (esp. now with the new 50% tax for people earning over £150k p/a!), and that will be that. We are going to have a Conservative win, I’d put money on it (well, if we weren’t in a bloody recession and I had a job, I would...).
What a brilliant democracy we have. There’s partisan deallignment left, right and centre, we believe what we hear less and less and trust less and less (remember, the MP scandal involved both Labour and Conservative MPs), and we believe what we hear less and less. We all seem so jaded, does anyone really believe anymore? As a people, we’re not even particularly political (59.1% turnout in the 2001 General election springs to mind, a “crisis of democracy” by any description), and those of us that are have the choice of Labour, Tory, or protest.
What an awesome democracy we have. The ‘catharsis’ Hannan seems to expect has not been postponed; it does not exist. Boo.
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