A New Democracy?

It is often said of our current democratic system that it is not a perfect system, but it’s the best we have. It is an excuse, used by those who hold power, to maintain the power and influence they have,  not to evolve and change, or try something different. Our system though, is deeply flawed, because MP’s have become nothing more than vote harvesters. They create a voter base, maintain it, and then try and hook in the voter that floats around the periphery that will enable them to maintain a majority. Hence we end up with self interested, time serving and unengaged politicians who work within a narrow ideologue that serves the few rather than the majority.

Using the current government as an example, we have a government that has no qualms about demonising the unemployed, the poor, stigmatising those who are in receipt of welfare or victimising the disabled because these people do not vote for them. So politicians feel justified in treating them like crap because they have no fear of damaging their voter base, and they are considered too far from the periphery to be hooked in. Frankly, the Tory’s do not give a damn about the plight of these people and never will.

When you challenge them, they attempt to portray themselves as tough minded and fair politicians who are making decisions for the good of the nation. This argument crumbles to dust though, when they are questioned on the ring fencing of pensioner benefits. Not only does the argument crumble to dust, but the politicians are uncovered as the lying self serving malcontents we always knew them to be as they refuse to go anyway near pensioner benefits until after the 2015 General Election.

They try to justify their policies on pensioners by painting pensioners as little pink rinsed, vulnerable old ladies in sensible shoes living on the breadline, that need protection, when many pensioners are robustly well off, as well as being nasty, bigoted racists filled with hatred and Werther’s Originals.

 The Tory’s leave the pensioners untouched by the cuts because pensioners vote and many well off pensioners vote Tory, It simple and very basic politics. Labour politicians are no different, except their policies have a vein of humanity running through them, because most liberal minded people have a concern for the plight of others, whereas right wingers are only concerned about themselves.

A new democracy needs to be constructed before the House of Commons descends into nothing more than a partisan baiting chamber filled with screams and insults such as “you’re a bunch of commie, socialist bleeding hearts” and responses such as “yeah, well your just a bunch of neo-fascist, Capitalist lickspittles with your tongues forever stuck up the arse’s of bankers and hedge fund managers.”

We need a system that screens out the time servers, the career politicians and people from the upper classes who see a life in politics as an hereditary entitlement handed down to them by their Fathers.

Here are some suggestions for change:

• ·         Each parliament is a 12 year fixed term: This will enable politicians to make long term policy that will benefit the nation rather than short term decisions based on votes.
• ·         A yes/no referendum is held every four years asking the electorate if they are happy for the current government to continue. A majority is required. If a majority is not achieved then a General Election would be held within three months.
• ·         All MP’s must stand down at the end of the 12 year fixed term and cannot stand again until the next but one General Election at the earliest ,which may not be for another 12 years. All national and constituency party’s would be required to have succession plans in place ready for the next 12 year term.
• ·         The only MP who can stand again would be the Prime Minister, who in turn can offer four current MP’s, the option of standing again, as long as each MP has the backing of his/her constituency Party.
• ·         A sitting MP can be recall if a petition is raised that contains signatures numbering in excess of 15% of the voting electorate in the constituency.
• ·         As MP’s cannot stand for consecutive terms this will ensure that all prospective candidates will have a solid grounding in life, having held proper jobs. This will also eliminate the problem of  career politicians, as anybody considering entering politics will be aware that after 12 years as an MP, unless they become PM, they will have to return to normal life an earn a living.
• ·         When the newly elected Prime Minister chooses his cabinet he must appoint a member from any opposition party for every 10% polled of the national vote. If an opposition party polled over 30% of the vote then four must be chosen. Opposition parties would be required to put forward a list of suitable MP’s that contained at least 33% of their elected representatives. A cross party select committee would be convened to ensure that lists contained suitable candidates and had not been drawn up for the purposes of political sabotage. Opposition party leaders could not be on the lists.

i.e Opposition party 1 polled 31% ( 4 members appointed to cabinet).

      Opposition party 2 polled 21% (2 members appointed)

      Opposition party 3 polled 11% (1 member appointed)

• ·         No MP can be elected as a party leader without at least 15 years work experience that does not involve working for a family firm ( close or extended, blood or marriage), any company or organisation that has any political connections, i.e. lobby group, think tanks, advertising, etc and any media that has obvious political affiliations.
• ·         Journalists cannot become MP’s. Their objectivity has been compromised.
• ·         Voting is made mandatory for all General Elections, Council Elections and all referendums.
• ·         Failure to exercise your mandate would result in a sentence of 20 hours community service for a nonprofit making organisation. This would be doubled for ever subsequent offence.
• ·         A Prime Minister cannot be removed from office by his/her party. Only the electorate can remove a standing PM.
• ·         Each constituency would hold 100,000 constituents with a margin of error of 10,000. Once this has been exceeded then boundary changes, with cross party consensus to avoid gerrymandering, would be implemented to correct the balance.
• Open primaries would be introduced .
• ·         MP’s salaries would be increased to £115000 per annum but expenses would only be paid for travel and office costs. Those MP’s who lived more than 40 miles from the Houses of Parliament and did not wish to commute daily could pay for accommodation from their salary or stay in accommodation blocks provided by the tax payer. A nominal fee would be charged. There would be no expenses available for items such as second or third homes, furnishings, electrical goods, meals or food, clothing or any item or service that a normal person would be expected to pay for with their own money. Being an MP should be an honour, not a privilege. The motivation should be ‘to serve for the good of the nation’ not ‘every opportunity I get I’ll line mine and my families pockets’.
• ·         MP’s living within the 40 mile zone would not be able to claim travel expenses to and from parliament.  MP’s outside the 40 mile zone would only be able to claim travel expenses for the cost of travel outside the 40 mile zone. Normal people have to pay irrespective of their salaries. Having to pay for travel, housing costs, food and other everyday expenditures that normal people have to meet, would keep the MP’s grounded and in touch with the daily pressures met by regular folk.
• ·         MP’s cannot employ close or extended family members.

This list is obviously not exhaustive, but provides a foundation for a new democracy. The ideal would be to pull away from a damaging, self serving, partisan politics driven by prejudice and ideologue and draw people into politics, from all walks of life, who would introduce an inclusive, people driven democracy, where decisions are made in the nations interests rather than self interest.

Cheap Clothes.

Since the collapse of the clothes factory in Bangladesh, it has been suggested that retailers such as Primark should be boycotted on the premise that their clothes are so cheap; they must source their merchandise from sweat shops full of low paid workers. Through implication the suggestion is that retailers who sell higher priced products are ethically acceptable. This seems to miss the basic point that the so called ‘ethical retailers’ may just have a bigger mark up and yet still be sourcing their products from the same suppliers. In other words, possibly, they are also using low paid workers in sweat shop conditions but making more profit for the items of clothing they produce.

The point is I have no idea where Primark, Tesco, Topshop, Marks and Spencer or any other clothes retailer sources it stock from, or the conditions the workers have to work in, or how much they are paid, because the information is not available, either in the shops or on the clothes.

 Retailers need to be forced to provide this information because they certainly will not provide it voluntarily.

Thatcher’s Legacy ?

I was reading about the Eton and Oxford educated PM’s appointment, of the Eton and Oxford educated Jo Johnson, brother of Eton and Oxford educated Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, as head of the policy unit at no 10. Apparently it was a suggestion made by the Eton and Oxford educated Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.

It made me think how one of the few upsides of Thatcher’s rise to Prime Minister was how she swept the Tory hierarchy clean of all those detached aristocratic members of the Eton/Oxford/Bullingdon cartel that had ruled the Tory party, and the country, for almost 200 years.

 Some Recorded Incidents of Chemical Weapons Use.

·         Napalm/Agent Orange- Vietnam. Used by the United States Army.

·         White Phosphorus- Palestine. Used by the Israeli Defence Force

·         White Phosphorus- Falluja. Used by the United States Army.

 So, apparently, it not just the bad guys.

Poem.

A Man.

I wish to tell you a short tale,

About a man,

 a just and decent male,

He walked upon the earth one time,

His thoughts were honest, his teachings sublime.

But people have twisted and corrupted his thoughts,

For it is power, control and wealth, they have sought,

They have abused and brutalised, views that were true,

Who allows them to do this?

 Well, that’s me and you.

                                                                                                                 Anon.