Tuesday 1 March 2011

Mindless, or mind-controlled, voters?

"For every credibility gap there is a gullibility gap."
Richard Cobden

Daniel Knowles, Daily Telegraph, blogs on an assumption that were Labour to come up with an credible answer to the 'deficit reduction', that young families might be Ed Miliband's salvation. His opinion is based on the fact that he argues the Coalition's plans targets those with young families. Acknowledging that Labour are polling at 43 per cent and also acknowledging that Labour caused the structural deficit, Knowles highlights just what is wrong with politics in this country today.

It is beyond understanding that the electorate - knowing Labour had mismanaged the economy, had engaged in social engineering by means of unlimited immigration, had covered the country with quangos, ngos and fake charities all of whom were engaged in 'ordering' our society, had totally wrecked what remained of our education system - would even consider letting those same politicians ever again hold the levers of power.

Not only are Labour politicians the only ones to whom the reins of power should never again be handed. The Conservative Party have more than sufficient politicians who have made mistakes yet, like those of Labour, they are continually re-elected in order that they may have a second and third attempt at wrecking our country. Now that the Liberal Democrats are 'in power', we will be able to add their politicians to the long list of failed Labour and Conservatives that should not be trusted again!

Election after election the three main parties come before the electorate with what is called a manifesto, something which in fact is a contract they are asking the electorate to sign/endorse, in which they set out their intentions as to how we are to be governed - and time and time again they break that contract. Examples are here, here and here. Not yet a year old and already the Coalition has broken promises and 'U' turns almost as long as the 'proverbial arm' - to which can be added Clegg's admission today in the House of Commons that the recall system for MPs will not happen any time soon.

That this country has a problem with it's democracy is, I believe, now beyond any reasonable doubt and I have posted on this previously here and here. It is a problem that is going to have to be addressed - and the sooner the better! Nothing exemplifies this better than a tweet from IanPJ on Politics today, on the occasion of a debate on the Freedom Bill in the HoC (a Bill that may as well have been written by Genghis Khan in that the freedoms it offers are 'meaningless'), when it is noted in a previous tweet that the HoC is virtually empty, to which IPJ adds the comment that "MPs only care about liberty when it affects them" - a comment which is so true!

And still the electorate vote for these venal, vacuous, self-centred 'representatives'! This problem can, I believe, be laid at the door of our education system when, yonks ago, children ceased to be 'educated' but were instead 'groomed' to become the compliant, mindless and robotic adults that they have indeed become - and it is a policy even more self-evident today. An example of that accusation can best be illustrated by a tweet posted as I write:
"@DanielFurrUK Never thought I'd hear myself say this as a LibDem, but I'm proud our Prime Minister is David Cameron"
If that is an example of the political understanding today, then those of us, like myself, who are trying to educate the public through our blogs, truly are banging our heads against the proverbial brick wall!


Update: Just for once I can find agreement with a post by Douglas Carswell!

7 comments:

frosty said...

No you are certainly not banging your head against a brick wall WFW,the internet is the place where many people are learning and becoming aware of what a venal and unprincipled load of shite we have in Westminster, please keep up your blogging, yours is one of many voices that is getting through to people,it will be a slow process i know but reach one person and they will tell another and ad infinitum, just keep up the good work!

WitteringsfromWitney said...

f: You are most kind with your comments - and keep banging my head, I surely will fear not!

Jacobite said...

WFW Never fear your message is getting through people are seeking the truth and learning that the place to seek that are blogs like yours.

Anonymous said...

Over the years I have lost count of the times that someone has told me something and I, thinking myself cleverer, used to patronise, agree, and walk away smiling to myself - only to realize, on hearing something related later, that they were the clever ones and not I.

It took me ages to recognize that the people in power worked to a different set of morals than I, and that friends who had told me this for years were actually right.

This drip, drip of information will eventually get through to the brainwashed masses - the duped of today become the wise of tomorrow.

As for opinion polls - the masses haven't really cottoned on to the fact that there is no magic money tree. They will do so eventually - in Plymouth they are starting to wonder about all of these wonderful City Development Companies and Chief Executives; it's coming - slowly.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

J: Jolly good - spread the word, me first please!

BJ: Accepted what you say but drip, drip - will someone turn the tap full on, please?

Edward Spalton said...

Back in the early UKIP days there was a by election at Hemsworth, deep in the Yorkshire coal field and I went canvassing in the deep snow - a thankless job.

Then I hit a bright spot - a very intelligent old lady who knew all about the EU and thought just as I did.

"May we count on your vote?" I asked.
"No duck, I'm Labour" she said.

When I tried to reason with her further, she put her hands over her ears!

At the time of the 1975 referendum, my late father was generally very anti Common Market. "I don't like this Europe business" he said "But that man Wedgewood Benn's against it, so there must be some good in it".

It's a very slow job breaking down this sort of loyalty which is a matter of ancestral influences, the heart and the guts not the brain. The fact that the parties have changed their spots still has not registered with many.

TomTom said...

The simple fact is that people should withdraw their assent from the system. It may even mean subscribing to a National Covenant as in 1637....but the fact that people declare themselves no longer supportive of the institutions nor respectful of them is a start.

Acquiescence under protest with regulations may be required to preserve liberty, but rejection of the system is a start because it becomes an Identity to which others can coalesce.

The Party System is corrupt and self-serving. It is what mass-democracy degenerates into as lobby groups buy influence. The devaluation of voting is part of the process.

To pursue a Reductionist Tendency is to reject the BBC - withdraw from TV - cease to buy newspapers - move to Blogs and start to network. De-legitimise the System