Politics

Where do you even begin with a subject like this? With the exception of religion I cannot think of a more divisive subject matter. Everyone has an opinion. Even if you say you couldn’t care and don’t even bother to vote you will be assaulted with the Suffragette argument and how people died for you to have the right to vote.

Now, to some extent that may or may not be true but there is a harsh reality that should not be overlooked. Vote, or don’t vote, it counts for very little in the great scheme of things. The reason for this is that party politics has become a farce. It is a bankrupt philosophy, a nod to the past that has left this country in a stagnant political morass that threatens to choke the life out of our country.

When political parties were formed there was a solid reasoning behind them and, at that time, they were representative of the electorate they chose to champion. The Tories were a party born from nobility and the upper classes which led in turn to the need for a counter party. The Labour party was the party that represented the common working man, the miner, the factory worker and the farmhand. We had a party that represented the far right, a party that represented the far left and as a direct result there was room for a party in the middle. Liberal Democrats, Social Democrats, the name can be changed but the ideals are the same. This was obviously a fluid state of affairs with no strict start or end point but it has led to the state we are in today. A single political machine that delivers the same results time and time again. Inertia.

As a result of this there has been an increase in calls for devolution of power, not just to the constituent countries of the Union, but to the larger English counties as well, Cornwall and Yorkshire being two perfect examples. The power that is held in Westminster is the catalyst for this. There is a deep seated sense of inequality at the further outposts of the kingdom, that this central seat of government is neither representative in terms of geographical location or cultural understanding of the needs of those they have been elected to represent. There is a simple reason for this. Party politics.

Once representative of political ideologies, the spectrum has shortened to such an extent that other than the colour of an electioneering rosette there is so little to distinguish between the parties that they have ended up as a parody of what they once were formed to represent. The idea of true party politics died with the Thatcherite regime. I will not go on about her as opinion is extremely polarised so subjective discussion is almost impossible from either angle, but with the demise of that particular government we saw the birth of New Labour, or was it New Conservatives? Gone were the true socialist idols of the past that spoke with a desire forged from their own childhood experiences, replaced now with a party that contained as many millionaires as miners. Regional accents were replaced with the more clipped tones of privately educated men and women, married to barristers and doctors as opposed to shopkeepers and fishwives. A simplistic view perhaps but very real nonetheless. Millionaires and businessmen who talked of socialism as if they knew what it meant to be a part of the working class they wanted you to believe they represented.

Now, this may seem like am a staunch Tory, I am actually anything but. I believe that there is a real danger of democracy failing to deliver what it is meant to. The right to free speech, the right to freedom of thought and the right for the electorate to hold those in office accountable for their failed promises. Rhetoric is used as a buzzword but this is just an educated term for ‘misleading bullshit’. All political parties lie and for all the wrong reasons.

People have become so entrenched in their own view of what they believe these parties represent that a huge majority of voters have decided who they are voting for before the rough copies of each parties manifesto have been passed around their multi million headquarters. People vote with their hearts and not their heads. Blame for any wrong in society is placed at the door of their least favoured party whilst ignoring any palpable good achieved, and vice versa. I hear so often of people saying that a party leader is an honest man, a decent man. So what. You are not voting for a prime minister. You are supposed to be voting for a person in your own constituency who will argue and debate for the greater good of that constituency. When Ed Milliband or David Cameron can tell me why the potential closure of Rhiwbina Library was so contested I will listen to them. If they can point out Tremorfa on a map and explain to me in detail where the current governmental policies will bring about a direct result to those constituents I will listen.

They do not get my vote, they never will. Neither will somebody who ‘toes the party line’. Essentially a governmental house that contains teams of different colours who argue like spoiled children over the last slice of cake. An electoral house that is very rarely full and offers little in meaningful debate. To me, the view of politics is so juvenile at times it is like attending a football match and seeing two sets of supporters cheering that their team is the greatest whilst actually, they are both run of the mill and ordinary in the great scheme of things. Governmental ineptitude over the last twenty to thirty years that I have been witness to has seen these parties merge towards a common central ground and as a direct result this has allowed for the lunatics to invade the all-expenses paid tea party. Take Mr Farage and the UKIP ideology that seems to be sweeping parts of the nation like an uneducated virus. If you choose to believe that he is the answer that is your democratic right and you have the option to vote that way, in the same manner an orang-utan can insert a banana up its own rectum. The freedom to do something does not make it right to do that thing. This is why politics needs a complete reformation in the UK.

Ban party politics. Make everyone stand as in independent candidate. That way at least when motions are passed in parliament those individuals can choose to vote on behalf of the constituents who elected them rather than vote the way their boss ordered them to. Ministers of state should be seconded into the role based on their own experience. I watched Question Time and saw Andy Burnham and Michael Gove both speak about varying aspects of education and health policies, yet how many days teaching or nursing experience do these two hold between them? None. Gove in fact has never held a job other than as a politician. Excuse me if I hold your opinion on anything other than politics itself as invalid, but you simply have no experience on which to draw when making decisions that REALLY matter. Likewise Mr Burnham, speak to the nurses directly on what their working conditions and morale is really like. Forget QUANGO’s and Governmental Select Committees. Get the heads of sheds in different arenas around the table and let them form policy which the government then get to vote on. Let’s see doctors and nurses dictate policy based on what they go through each day. Speak to the primary school teacher in the run down housing estate with poor facilities about the subject matter they feel could benefit their kids more. Teach gardening to kids in school? No, get a gardener to do that. Growing a potato is great, but is not a true life skill. Being literate and arithmetically astute are.

The Chancellor should be held accountable for his budgetary decisions. He should be one of the top businessmen in the country. To offer up anything less is insulting. The Defence Minister should have served his or her country in uniform, not a pin striped suit. This should hold true across all governmental ministries. Marry experience, responsibility and vision into one package.

This is the perverse nature of politics that allows people to hold positions for which they simply do not have the experience and wherewithal to occupy. If you went for a job interview for the role of a qualified accountant but you had never held a calculator or looked at a spreadsheet before, you would not get the job. In politics the reverse holds true, the less qualified you are for a role the more likely you are to be selected for that position. Is it really just me that sees this as complete idiocy?

The recent debate on TV perfectly summed up politics and all that it is bad about it. When Mr Farage so eloquently for a dribbling oik, put forward his argument about HIV and health tourism using figures he had clearly made up on the spur of the moment whilst finishing his latest colouring book, only one person responded. Leanne Wood. Leader of the Plaid Cymru, a party that could not win an election in a thousand generations. For this one brief moment the political ideology and party line was ignored and she spoke with emotion and candour. Not one other politician did, until a few hours after the event. Both Messrs Clegg and Milliband were scathing in their tweets, once advised by their spin doctors that the issue of Leanne Wood was trending favourably. There is the issue. Both were too afraid to say anything until they were sure it was something people wanted to hear. I want to hear what you honestly think and then form my opinion on it, not give you my opinion and then you suck up to me like a sycophantic non entity with a response that you think I will like. It’s not the X Factor, it is real life and it doesn’t get any more real than potentially running/ruining the country so excuse us if we want the truth.

So there you have it. There are more holes in this argument than I care to imagine as I can already see so many flaws in my own ideas but I know one thing, whoever wins the next election, nothing will change, not really. IT NEVER DOES.