The problem with politics is people. Not with policies but with the people chosen and annointed to implement them. Politics is now a popularity contest. Do we like the person presented to us on the leaflet or in the party political broadcast? Deep down we know that our vote will mean nothing and change nothing but we have been groomed to believe that it will. People died running out in front of horses to give us this freedom. A freedom, like going out for a Sunday spin in the car with the family, yes that type of freedom.
We have just been witness to the most extended example of political and monarchical musical chairs. Now if the Conservatives had been so ruthless as King Charles and the Monarchy and just gone ahead and had an anointing after the blunderbuss of Boris Johnson, but they went to their membership and had weeks or was it months of talking heads between Sunak and Truss before one was chosen to tank the economy and then the other one comes in yesterday with the Superman S on his T shirt!
We the voting public are the problem because we are constantly projecting our own unhappiness and frustration on to these politicians whose major fault is their ego. We have lesser egos, otherwise we would be up there giving it large as well. Twitter is awash with vitriol and bile aimed at the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives from Labour and Labour from the Left. Centrists are viewed as akin to Nazis.
Why am I writing this blog post on this particular topic? Well I was diagnosed in 2006 with Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression pre decimalisation. A life lived swinging from high to low mood with very little time spent in the 'Center'. I think by now, no I know by now that I am allergic to the extremes. I am angry and frustrated with the Bipolarity of life. The pendulum swings from Conservative to Labour. There is a choice of two on the menu: Take it or Leave it! Labour have very little time for talk of a Progressive Alliance. They and they alone must be the ones to take on the scourge of one nation Conservatism but with the anointing of Sunak, by the the time of the next General election, they will have met in the middle.
Our 'Gogglebox' opinions will fall between which one scrubs up the best. Which one has the slickest persona and which one do we relate to the best? We can spoil the ballot. We can choose not to vote. This is where I am at the moment. Actively thinking about choosing not to vote. I had to wait until I was 21 to be able to vote for the first time in the General Election of 1987. It was a protest vote that made no difference but myself then, seeing what I am writing now, would I be shocked? No because I've always been a cynical old bastard at heart.
If we know our own human failings well. If we are our own worst critics then what makes people who stand for public office any diffferent to ourselves? If they stray or transgress then we shout 'Burn the Witch' but in effect are we not just shouting at ourselves? If a policeman's lot is not a happy one then a politician's is a lot less amusing but they are incredibly well paid for the abuse and approbation that they receive.
The system is broken but we still take part because we believe that it is a fundamental human right to be able to vote an egotist into power. The Monarchy like Labour and Conservatives know that we have nowhere else to turn. If Britain was going to have a revolution like France and Russia then it would have happened by now. A phonecall to Sturgeon and Drakeford is all that Sunak in his Superman T shirt had to do last night for the media to fall over themselves this morning. They are hoping that the S stands for 'Saviour of the Union'. Starmer wants to wear the same T shirt so what is the difference between these establishment stooges? Nothing. It is just that they are hoping that the history of their respective parties will win them favour at the ballot boxes.
I hated Kinnock and the Old Welsh Labour. I don't mind Drakeford because he speaks his mind and asks sausage fingered Tories "What planets do they belong on?" but again it's all about the people and it shouldn't be. Politics should not be about people. We would be better off having Robots in Holyrood, Westminster, Cardiff Bay and Stormont, writing policy and implementing it because then we could not argue, bicker, call them bastards or throw shade. It is 2022 and we have got nowhere fast politically. If in the next General Election there is a 🤖 head on the ballot paper, then I would vote for the Artificial Intelligence because otherwise it's a no show from me.
Politics should not be a Popularity Contest.
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