Last year I was in America a number of times as Obama fever swept the nation. It was more than just Obama worship it was a real political fever with the war veteran supporters of Mc Cain, woman supporters of Clinton, black voters for Obama (and everyone anti Bush) all mixed into an addictive political cocktail. At the time I have to say I was envious of America and how they had managed to get the whole of society energised into a real political debate.
“The Onion News” ran a headline that said “Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress” and I wondered when the UK would reach that turning point when people would become re-engaged with campaigning politics. I could not see a horizon that gave me any hope at the time.
For many years falling voter turnout and lacklustre sound bite politics have been the UK norm. A decade of stable and soporific prosperity gave us only distant military interventions to add a measure of intermittent public dissent. The government and a tame parliament managed the country rather than led it. The familiarity of Blair and Brown dividing the foreign and domestic agenda like president and prime minister was a comforting apolitical style that was hard to argue against.
In the autumn I was in America again and I saw the markets falling and companies failing and I wondered if the wheels would come off of the Gordon Brown bus. With Blair gone and Brown indecisive and heavy footed I really felt he was a liability but with an ambivalent electorate what were the options. I wrote in my blog about the polyester Tory boy or the Scottish tax bandit - do we vote for the least crap option? - Why would we bother to turn out to vote? It seemed that we would replace the leaders of UK Plc by having a management tender rather than a general election. No ideological debate of wealth verses workers or private enterprise verses state social control just a seamless management takeover based on a least cost tender
This week the wheels really came off and still it rumbles on ....
MPs expenses have put the people back to ballot box to protest but are they really re-engaged? My feeling is that they are entertained by the No.10 version of the Big Brother House, the English love of a good political farce and they smell the blood of a chase. This is little more than a political soap opera played out on 24 hour news media with TV pundits interviewing blog pundits about what the newspapers wrote. Once the public indignation and fury has passed will there be a mood in the country to debate policy?
Will the “Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress” question come into play or is the next bland management takeover inevitable?
The Onion News 5 Nov 2008 Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress
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