My opinion about this whole expenses debacle is one of bewilderment actually; we've always known that politicians are slippery, greedy liars but I think we kept pretending they weren't as long as they did it away from prying eyes - like a wife turning a blind eye to her husbands affairs as long as he kept her happy and didn't disgrace her.
I've always had problems knowing how to vote; as one of Thatchers bitter, abused, children I'd always felt disgusted and resentful at the Conservatives attempts to try and raise me to be a greedy, selfish money-grabbing Nazi who is only out for herself at the expense of others. It never felt right and I intrinsically knew that if we didn't help each other then society would collapse - even as a child I knew that greed was not good.
My Mother's family are very much working class, my earliest memories of politics are these honest hard-working men whose opinions I respected, saying that Labour were the party for the ordinary man, that they 'looked out for you' and that if they ran the country then everyone would be treated fairly and hard work would be rewarded... and I believed them. Under the Conservatives unemployment figures went from 1 to 3 million, child poverty from 10% to 33% and pensioner poverty also doubled - I couldn't see how anyone could do any worse!
I felt relief, hope and excitement when Labour came into power; Margaret Thatcher had broken the country's backbone and people were ready for change. Even I knew that privatising everything meant that the system would be abused; everything would be for the company's own profit and benefit, and that there would be nobody to ensure that the public got a fair deal. So from an early age I have never trusted the people that ran my country - I had never felt they were looking out for me and they taught me this themselves.
My disappointment when Labour turned out to be no different was quite profound; although I kind of suspected that they would all be the same, New Labour just turned out to be Old Conservative. Nobody seems to have any values, any sense of right and wrong (we're born knowing if something is wrong - we just feel it) or sense of moral duty to anyone else. The fact that 'everyone's doing it' or 'I didn't break any rules' counts for nothing and is a weak argument - you wrote the rules and you also know if you're taking the piss. They have really let us down by being no better than the people they replaced.
The fact that we're in a recession and people are losing their homes and jobs makes it even harder for us to not hate them - Tony Benn once said of Thatcher "She measured the price of everything and the value of nothing" - this is now not only true of politicians, but sadly seems to mirror the values of our whole society; we now just care about what we can get away with and how things effect us and ours. (Although frankly, if any of us behaved like these politicians then we would be in court for fraud)
We claim to be horrified and disgusted at their behaviour but I image a lot of people fiddle their expenses, hit a car and drive off, throw rubbish in the street, throw sickies, queue jump, find wallets and don't hand them in - along with a number of many other morally undesirable traits. We also trust nobody - the only people who we seems to trust nowadays are vets, firemen and celebrities; and that's because nobody in any position of authority demonstrates and upholds any moral values.
My main concern about this whole expenses fiasco is that we almost don't expect any better from not only them, but from anyone... now that really is depressing.
I've always had problems knowing how to vote; as one of Thatchers bitter, abused, children I'd always felt disgusted and resentful at the Conservatives attempts to try and raise me to be a greedy, selfish money-grabbing Nazi who is only out for herself at the expense of others. It never felt right and I intrinsically knew that if we didn't help each other then society would collapse - even as a child I knew that greed was not good.
My Mother's family are very much working class, my earliest memories of politics are these honest hard-working men whose opinions I respected, saying that Labour were the party for the ordinary man, that they 'looked out for you' and that if they ran the country then everyone would be treated fairly and hard work would be rewarded... and I believed them. Under the Conservatives unemployment figures went from 1 to 3 million, child poverty from 10% to 33% and pensioner poverty also doubled - I couldn't see how anyone could do any worse!
I felt relief, hope and excitement when Labour came into power; Margaret Thatcher had broken the country's backbone and people were ready for change. Even I knew that privatising everything meant that the system would be abused; everything would be for the company's own profit and benefit, and that there would be nobody to ensure that the public got a fair deal. So from an early age I have never trusted the people that ran my country - I had never felt they were looking out for me and they taught me this themselves.
My disappointment when Labour turned out to be no different was quite profound; although I kind of suspected that they would all be the same, New Labour just turned out to be Old Conservative. Nobody seems to have any values, any sense of right and wrong (we're born knowing if something is wrong - we just feel it) or sense of moral duty to anyone else. The fact that 'everyone's doing it' or 'I didn't break any rules' counts for nothing and is a weak argument - you wrote the rules and you also know if you're taking the piss. They have really let us down by being no better than the people they replaced.
The fact that we're in a recession and people are losing their homes and jobs makes it even harder for us to not hate them - Tony Benn once said of Thatcher "She measured the price of everything and the value of nothing" - this is now not only true of politicians, but sadly seems to mirror the values of our whole society; we now just care about what we can get away with and how things effect us and ours. (Although frankly, if any of us behaved like these politicians then we would be in court for fraud)
We claim to be horrified and disgusted at their behaviour but I image a lot of people fiddle their expenses, hit a car and drive off, throw rubbish in the street, throw sickies, queue jump, find wallets and don't hand them in - along with a number of many other morally undesirable traits. We also trust nobody - the only people who we seems to trust nowadays are vets, firemen and celebrities; and that's because nobody in any position of authority demonstrates and upholds any moral values.
My main concern about this whole expenses fiasco is that we almost don't expect any better from not only them, but from anyone... now that really is depressing.
I completely agree; at school I was informed I was a Socialist before I even knew what it meant! I remember the discussion about Communism in Economics as well - I asked why every country wasn't Communist as it sounded so fair, only to be told that it didn't work because 'some people are more equal than others'.. sounds familiar!
ReplyDeleteHow is it that children understand that things are right or wrong (why is half the planet faffing around on ipods & playstations when 4 people die every minute because they don't have clean water?)but nobody ever got around to sorting the whole thing out? I personally think it's because humans as a species are intrinsically selfish & agressive; since man could walk, they climbed over the mountains, saw another village & instead of going over to share resources & ideas, they thought "we'll have that"
I know, the word 'socialism' is such a taboo here as people don't tend to distinguish between 'communism' and 'socialist democracy'.
ReplyDeleteEven though collective money for charity is 'good' it still annoys me that they can spend so much tome and energy talking about poor people starving in the third world, not being able to afford medicine etc, without ever mentioning why this is so. I don't think I've ever heard any presenter on Comic Relief saying children are starving precisely because Western capitalism depends on it, or that they can't afford to buy medicine because 'we' charge too much for it in the first place. And when countries do industrialise, such as China, India, Korea, they are critiqued for ruining the earth. So it's obvious that 'we' like out wealth but feel sorry for those who don't have any, but criticize those who attempt to achieve it... If only the BBC could ever talk about these things in an informed way! Wow, did not intend to rant quite this much...
Exactly! It's like weapons; it's ok for us to have them because we're 'responsible & civilised' but not for anyone else. You never hear anyone suggesting writing off third World debts but we're expected to dig into our pockets constantly.
ReplyDeletePeople have been starving for years & it never seems to get any better how much money the public give them (as if we're rolling in it) it's a drop in the ocean. And why is it our responsibility?
It also mmakes me laugh how anti-capitalists go on marches in Nike trainers & other branded clothes; practice what you preach & start at home! I love a good rant.