Now this is my first post here so treat me gently.
Why do we bother to vote? Because we are promised that a political party can better our lot in life.
In the past we would have elections, and before they were carried out, the political parties would lay out their aspirations in their Manifesto. In the distant past, that manifesto was treated as a document that, we the people, could depend on to a large extent to judge the parties on their commitment to policies. It was easy in those days. You chose the manifesto that you agreed to, and voted accordingly. Bye and large it worked. Politicians of that bygone age, in the whole, usually tried to deliver those policies. That was the day of honest politics.
Now, sadly we have no men of honour inhabiting the Mother of all parliaments. We have career politicians who have never served in any competitive private sector environment and are just after power for power's sake.
What is the point of these manifestos? If they can be torn up immediately after an election, why bother drawing them up in the first place? I would like to see them as a legal document and any deviation challenged in the courts. Of course there would be some problems left behind by a previous governments policies that would have to stay in place for a short while.
Example.
If you went into a shop and saw a TV and the blurb stated that it could do all manner of wonderful things, you would buy it, in the belief that you had bought a product that would suit your need. However if your TV failed to do those most wondrous of things that you’d been promised, you would be entitled to a refund or replacement under Sale of Goods and services act. And most certainly wouldn’t wait five years before returning it.
Example.
If you saw an advert that intimated that ingesting cyanide would give you eternal life, what would your relatives do after burying you? (In my case. A paupers grave. But that’s another story). They would very quickly (I hope) contact the Advertising Standards Authority to have that advert removed.
So why do we have to put up with governments who promise the earth, but don't deliver?
So my point is, can we have an act that would allow us to return the government from whence they came, namely opposition?
"The repeal of Governments and useless hangers on Act" maybe.
Or can we just hang all 650 of them? (I have more than enough piano wire in the garage.).
An excellent contribution.
ReplyDeleteIn 1999 I was debating on behalf of UKIP against Roger Helmer for a seat in the EU parliament. I pointed out that the Conservative slogan "In Europe but not run by Europe" was fraudulent and would have led to prosecution if it had been a commercial advertisement or leaflet. Roger admitted my point in a good humoured way, as he was a businessman himself.
ReplyDeleteIn 2008 Stuart Wheeler took the government to court in an attempt to force the referendum it had promised on the EU constitution/Lisbon treaty. The government lawyer's case was simple. "There was "no reasonable expectation" that any government would ever carry out any of the promises in an election manifesto. The court upheld the government view.
Nice piece and thank you for posting it. I'm now wondering where we go with this site. My idea ... not very well thought out, and not well expressed, was to provide a site about independent political bloggers and blogging, to promote the genre - a sort of noticeboard combined with "chat room".
ReplyDeleteI did not want to compete with aggregate sites like Orphans of Liberty.
like http://4liberty.org.uk/
Have I got the idea wrong?
Richard.
ReplyDeleteHowever the more people who blog about the iniquities of the state the better. The fact that bloggers are grouping up gives more weight than bloggers acting in isolation.
On my own blog I often feel I'm pissing in the wind. That reminds me,I must write another post about useless bird mincers.