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By alphadog1

Sat, 11 May 2013
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2 comments
 

In my opinion we need a radical rethink of what politics is all about. New Labour never really considered the working class, as its policies were very connected with the Thatcherite economic ideas which are the real problem behind the debt we face now.
But in analyzing the working individual: this group of our society has been dwindling as the factory's close here, in the UK and open up in the sweat-boxes of India and China.
I hate to point it out but the dependency upon benefits occurred because the working class are, and have been, forced into a position of having to claim them. This leads me to consider the Philpott's. Their actions were atrocious, and I do believe that they should be held accountable for their crimes; but are they guilty, and if they are, of what? yes murder is atrocious and the murder of children twice as so, but they were trying to survive in a changing economy, where work is scarce; where his skills were dwindling as the factories close. I don't expect a Tebbit "on your bike" answer here, because who wants to bicycle to India every day to work for a couple of pennies?
The fact is Tory's are responsible for this: they changed the socio-dynamic by breaking apart the base, that makes the parts that the factories use to build their products to sell. It is this that makes employment which gives people money in their pocket to pay in taxes to keep the whole political wheel turning; that's is why they are there, to serve us, not the other way round. To look after our interests... But now, the working class are never given the opportunities that many others have; and now most of them are like myself, feeling put out to pasture by a society that doesn't give a shit.
Yes our society has changed, I agree on that, but its up to our leader's to provide the means to help the most disadvantaged adapt to that change. Instead, they still look to the same system that ruined it all in the first place.
The lack of political divide was shown in the voting of the 2010 election. No-one knew or knows what any party stands for anymore. For there is political need to make everyone, or as many as possible, middle class: eg, having enough money to afford luxuries, be in a valued job, have confidence enough to feel secure with our families and owning their own properties. But this can never happen. The exclusion of the disabled in our evolving society is evidence of a shift towards right wing thinking; also given weight by the media, in all it forms. Facebook group's and the gatherings that come from them, (I cite the citizen revolts of 2012 and the removal of dictator's ) do give a new voice for the common individual, but the actions of our media and the government prevent action taking place.
In the end I will be voting Labour. because the option is between UKIP (Tory's in hats) Tory's, and the Liberal party (Tory's in knickers) but in a democracy what sort of choice is that?
In the end I want a government to act, not carry on as before or penalizing the disadvantaged because the factory's have moved overseas. I want to see hope; and there are things that can be done. The closed libraries can become training centers, connected to universities, and this could be connected to small business in a public/private imitative, new technology, and training in new technology, could also help. the rebuilding of smaller homes for the elderly, and the cutting of the MP salary, and the removal of the bonus system could also help. Finally the arrest of those responsible for creating this mess: and the banking community behind it. This is part of the problem associated with the greed at the heart of the system.
Society has to change. Does that begin with politics or with the people.
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Certificate 18
Non-fiction
Opinion

Comments

Submitted by Sooz006 on
Very well structured and put across debate on today's society. You present a good argument for your case. And it isn't too high-brow as politics often is so that lay-people like me can follow and understand it.

 

Submitted by alphadog1 on
Thank you Sooz. Unlike a lot of my facebook "rants", (and there have been many) this piece is the best; which is why I posted it. There was another, that I posted to the BBC, but the article, related to Nigel Lawson and his position on the EU, But this was removed, and the post was lost. Which makes me wonder if I pressed too many buttons and made people uncomfortable> I also have to start by saying that I have been reading a lot of Jack Kerouac, and he has helped in the shaping of ideas; however, to fully understand this mini essay clearly, there needs to be a little bit of personal background history given. Since the election of 2010,I have taken a very anti government position. In all honesty, this position is based upon coming from a long family tradition of being staunch labour supporter's; however it is this tradition that I am now starting to question. I was taught by my grandfather, -a card carrying communist of the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, my father, a detective police officer, who despised Thatcherite economics of the 1980's and my Aunt, my father's sister: a beautiful intelligent woman, hippie and collector of rare souls; that socialism considered -above all else- the working man. That it stood above the corrupt capitalist machine, and was an ideal for a workable society. But this ideal could never be fully realized due to the weakness and fragility of the ego of humanity: where power, greed and ambition, -themselves possibly noble in their intention though not in their action- can become twisted by the human heart into something that -perhaps- they were not intended to be. But even if I did not have this leaning, I would still be opposed to a government that refuses to address the problem of capitalism gone awry, that stigmatizes the disabled as workshy,and adds to the myth of the poor; (which is itself a form of illusion, as poverty changes its value depending upon where we live.) yet, at the same time, offers no real intensives to make work, work. The statement "making work work" is not the same as "making work pay" This is because work has never paid honestly in a capitalist democracy. Especially in a capitalist monarchical democracy,like the UK, where there is a subconscious need to keep a unique distance between the working man on the factory floor away from the business owner; which itself is based upon a form of kingship or fiefdom over the worker's that the company hire. This is not the same as in the united states, where -despite their own economic depression, also due to the same economic disease given to us by Thatcher- there is a greater sense of equality between the business owner and the worker. Many right wing thinkers will find that hard to hear, yet, it is essentially true; The history of free market economics is beset with short term gains over long term losses, and it has never worked, as an economic system, longer than twenty to thirty years; from The first stock market in china, where paper money was invented,until the present. History has shown this as a proven fact: where there is an over reliance upon market forces, there has also been a growth in general poverty, and a decay in "society". That is not to say that the stock market is wrong, its just that the market needs to be balanced by productivity, without which, there is no growth. This is why it is never wise to link economics and politics together; something that Tory's have done since their inception many hundreds of years ago. As I have underpinned here, in "end of line" as long as we have a system that refuses to accept the follies of the past then we can never move into a better future. That many of our political parties have sold their base set of principles for the sake of a fiscal system that has only ever worked in the short term; and that as we change as, (and I use the word generally here) a society, then we ALSO have to accept the failures of the past in our now present. And this is a changing society, the factories here are closing and moving to India or china, as the global economy begins to take hold and the nation state, itself a relatively new idea begins to recede into history.And as the Global economy grows people are being hired to work is sweatbox factory's where people are being paid next to nothing, to make poorly made products that are shipped here, that we in-turn buy on the cheap, which then do not last. And what of the worker in Britain? In "end of line" I considered the Philpott's, as being victims. Perhaps that was disingenuous of me. But I am of the considered opinion that people like the Philpott's are made. Made not by just the weakness of the previous labour government, but by the lack of forward insight of the Conservative governments too; and where has this forgotten generation (also known as generation X) left to go to find work? To india? To China? Most of us, and I include myself here, also unemployed for over ten years, unable to gain any employment, and now unable to claim benefit see the streets as the only option left. Many have died, either through suicide, or being forced back into a working environment that has changed beyond all recognition since the late 1990's. Finally the election of 2010 brought with it huge changes, changes that were needed, but these changes have not helped the poor of our society, in fact they have made the problem worse. Can politics solve the problem? Perhaps, but it would need bold decisions, it would need third way economics, a break with the stock market intensives for growth, but more importantly a cut in the wage for the MPs and the rich. Something that will never happen, because the rich like the money they have to let go of it. In the UK now, we have more millionaires in positions of power and influence that at any time in our history, yet they do not make the changes that they expect from those who are at the bottom. This can only breed resentment here. It can only lead to greater frustration and a need to do something about it. I pointed out in "end of line" that there was little differences in the political parties at the present. This I still feel is true; and its a dangerous place. Finally, So sorry for the very long reply. This -I expect makes little sense. I have a lot screaming inside my head right now; and lancing the boil helps occasionally.