In a year where voter registration in the United States is hitting an all time high, enthusiasm for the political process is off the chart and two very interesting candidates battle it out for the right to be called President, what is happening in Britain?
Apathy. Total Political apathy. The more people learn about politics in this country the less people care. For a democracy that is not exactly an ideal situation. More people voted in the last series of that mind-numbing, intelligence sapping abortion of a TV show Big Brother than in the last General Election. That's quite depressing.
But when you stop and look at the political choices we have in Britain, it is rather understandable. Once upon a time there were three main political parties. The Conservative Party (also known as The Tories) who represented the upper class and the rich, The Labour Party who represented the working class and the less well off, and the Liberal Democrats who were sort of in the middle, although they never really had any chance of getting into power.
Now there are still three main parties. The Liberal Democrats (who still haven't a hope in Hell of actually winning), The Conservatives and New Labour. While the Conservatives held power, Labour were the party who stood up and fought for a more equal society, to give the working men and women a fair deal in life. The sad part about it was that they never held office. I guess the political system in Britain favoured the rich. So in 1997 they had a brainwave: New Labour. It basically promised a new direction for the party and, if they got in, the country. They had a fresh faced young leader, Tony Blair, and took advantage of people's dissatisfaction with the corruption, ineptitude and sleaze of the Tory party in what was a landslide election victory.
How power changes people. The New Labour government then took a sharp turn away from the left and headed for centrist policies. Or so they said. It just seemed that they were a new Tory party dressed in Labour red. The rich continued to benefit and could now vote guilt-free for a party that would hand them every advantage. The now Prime Minister Tony Blair led the country into an unjust war on Iraq based on intelligence that had been exaggerated. One of these intelligence claims was that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction and that they could be activated and detonated within 45 minutes. So we stood alongside the USA in the invasion and no weapons were found. We had something in common with America. Our highest ranking politician had lied to us in order to curry favour for a war that had no real justification and ignored the millions of people who disagreed with them. Wonderful.
All this time, the man in charge of the UK's finances was Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The man who so desperately wanted to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister. After what must have felt like eternity to Brown he finally got his wish. Blair resigned, handing over the reigns to Brown. Because of Blair's lack of popularity Brown's approval rating was rather high, yet an unelected Prime Minister refused to call an election. Probably a bad idea. Since taking charge there was flash flooding across the country which Brown's administration reacted to poorly, and the economy went into meltdown with the bank Northern Rock going under, with HBOS and Bradford & Bingley also in serious trouble. His approval ratings are in the toilet.
Surely the American slogan will work for us too? Time for a change! Umm, well no. The problem is that should Labour lose the next election, those likely to replace them in office would be just as bad, if not worse. David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, is trying to market himself as a fresh faced young leader taking his party and, should he get in, the country in a new direction. I swear I've seen this before. How did that work out last time? Oh yes, not well.
The other alternative is a real long shot. The Liberal Democrats. At the last General Election they had an interesting leader, with very new policies. Granted, he had an alcohol problem and they had no real chance of getting in anyway, but still. Now the leader is a man named Nick Clegg. I am sure he is a clone of David Cameron. He is utterly uninteresting and the Lib Dem policies are just as forgettable.
So there you have it. The British public cannot stand the political leadership at the moment, but the alternatives are just as bad. This could be more a comment on the British public's apparent insatiable need to complain, but I suspect this lack of real choice is the reason for such political apathy.
"Are you going to vote at the next election?"
"No, what difference would it make? They're all the same"
Sadly, there may be a point to that...
The "Choices"
Apathy. Total Political apathy. The more people learn about politics in this country the less people care. For a democracy that is not exactly an ideal situation. More people voted in the last series of that mind-numbing, intelligence sapping abortion of a TV show Big Brother than in the last General Election. That's quite depressing.
But when you stop and look at the political choices we have in Britain, it is rather understandable. Once upon a time there were three main political parties. The Conservative Party (also known as The Tories) who represented the upper class and the rich, The Labour Party who represented the working class and the less well off, and the Liberal Democrats who were sort of in the middle, although they never really had any chance of getting into power.
Now there are still three main parties. The Liberal Democrats (who still haven't a hope in Hell of actually winning), The Conservatives and New Labour. While the Conservatives held power, Labour were the party who stood up and fought for a more equal society, to give the working men and women a fair deal in life. The sad part about it was that they never held office. I guess the political system in Britain favoured the rich. So in 1997 they had a brainwave: New Labour. It basically promised a new direction for the party and, if they got in, the country. They had a fresh faced young leader, Tony Blair, and took advantage of people's dissatisfaction with the corruption, ineptitude and sleaze of the Tory party in what was a landslide election victory.
How power changes people. The New Labour government then took a sharp turn away from the left and headed for centrist policies. Or so they said. It just seemed that they were a new Tory party dressed in Labour red. The rich continued to benefit and could now vote guilt-free for a party that would hand them every advantage. The now Prime Minister Tony Blair led the country into an unjust war on Iraq based on intelligence that had been exaggerated. One of these intelligence claims was that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction and that they could be activated and detonated within 45 minutes. So we stood alongside the USA in the invasion and no weapons were found. We had something in common with America. Our highest ranking politician had lied to us in order to curry favour for a war that had no real justification and ignored the millions of people who disagreed with them. Wonderful.
All this time, the man in charge of the UK's finances was Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The man who so desperately wanted to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister. After what must have felt like eternity to Brown he finally got his wish. Blair resigned, handing over the reigns to Brown. Because of Blair's lack of popularity Brown's approval rating was rather high, yet an unelected Prime Minister refused to call an election. Probably a bad idea. Since taking charge there was flash flooding across the country which Brown's administration reacted to poorly, and the economy went into meltdown with the bank Northern Rock going under, with HBOS and Bradford & Bingley also in serious trouble. His approval ratings are in the toilet.
Surely the American slogan will work for us too? Time for a change! Umm, well no. The problem is that should Labour lose the next election, those likely to replace them in office would be just as bad, if not worse. David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, is trying to market himself as a fresh faced young leader taking his party and, should he get in, the country in a new direction. I swear I've seen this before. How did that work out last time? Oh yes, not well.
The other alternative is a real long shot. The Liberal Democrats. At the last General Election they had an interesting leader, with very new policies. Granted, he had an alcohol problem and they had no real chance of getting in anyway, but still. Now the leader is a man named Nick Clegg. I am sure he is a clone of David Cameron. He is utterly uninteresting and the Lib Dem policies are just as forgettable.
So there you have it. The British public cannot stand the political leadership at the moment, but the alternatives are just as bad. This could be more a comment on the British public's apparent insatiable need to complain, but I suspect this lack of real choice is the reason for such political apathy.
"Are you going to vote at the next election?"
"No, what difference would it make? They're all the same"
Sadly, there may be a point to that...
The "Choices"
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