Does Britain Need a Peaceful Political Revolution?

[TedShatner10]

Link

The recession and the Politics of Fumbling

The consistent incompetence of politicians is no accident: it is testament to their lack of a cohering ideology

The sheer lack of professionalism of our leaders is well beyond a ribald joke; it is now becoming a big problem for society.

In the recession so far, popular outrage against the establishment has focused mainly on ‘greed’. Yet alongside impulsive disgust about avarice lies another sentiment: anger towards politicians’ manifest incompetence. Much of the criticism of ministers through the familiar metaphor of piss-ups, breweries and organisation skills stems from weariness and cynicism more than a desire for a new society. However, there are questions that need to be answered about the elite’s incompetence.

The main thing to grasp is that, both in Britain and abroad, incompetence rests upon a profound lack of political direction. If there existed party-political goals more tangible and more exciting than ‘values’, ‘fairness’ and ‘tolerance’, society would throw up people who had the imagination and the competence to see those goals reached.

In turn, directionlessness is also something that cannot come down to the character or intellectual defects of, say, UK government minister Harriet Harman. Since the end of the Cold War, the sense of purpose that typified politicians such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher has been evacuated from political circles. The only enemy that elites have nowadays is themselves.

*REST OF ARTICLE IN LINK ABOVE*

Since the majority of Britain's politicians are such bland and self-serving cronies for their rich business pals, as suggested in this article, do you think Britain's political system needs to be seriously rebooted to save the country from complete social and economic ennui that the UK is sinking deeper into? Tony Blair was vastly more charismatic than Gordon Brown, but at the end of the day he was a glorified used car salesman and his interests were never really most people's interests (blundering into Iraq, not overseeing immigration wisely, leaving corrosive Neoliberal economic polices pretty much the way they were, and helping the Roman Catholic Church). Tony Benn, Boris Johnson, and Vince Cable seem to be the only non-entities in their respective political parties, despite their personal short comings, while the three said main political parties have mostly become so much like each other that it has encouraged voter apathy (although I doubt the populace will remain placcid for long when the economy staggers on in its current state for the next half decade).

Peter Oborne succinctly explains how corrupt, inept, and stagnant Britain's "political class" has become in a commentary on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe and in his own book, The Triumph of the Political Class.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

The entire UK government, political parties and politicians are a joke. We're completely screwed, how on earth could we possibly wipe the slate clean? they're nothing but a bunch of selfish greedy money grabbing buffoons throughout the entire political spectrum and yet we can't do a damn thing about it.

 

[Deckerd]

It's true the global recession can be laid fairly and squarely on Gordon Brown's shoulders. He broke the world.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

It's true the global recession can be laid fairly and squarely on Gordon Brown's shoulders. He broke the world.

He broke the UK without question.

 

[aftermath]

The entire UK government, political parties and politicians are a joke. We're completely screwed, how on earth could we possibly wipe the slate clean? they're nothing but a bunch of selfish greedy money grabbing buffoons throughout the entire political spectrum and yet we can't do a damn thing about it.

The British government is actually one of the most well run, efficient, least corrupted and internationally admired in the world. Try living in Europe in for a few years or across the pond in North America and maybe you'll get a better appreciation for the British "Rolls-Royce" bureaucracy.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

It's true the global recession can be laid fairly and squarely on Gordon Brown's shoulders. He broke the world.

The world needs to be rebooted then. It could also use an upgrade in RAM.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

The entire UK government, political parties and politicians are a joke. We're completely screwed, how on earth could we possibly wipe the slate clean? they're nothing but a bunch of selfish greedy money grabbing buffoons throughout the entire political spectrum and yet we can't do a damn thing about it.

The British government is actually one of the most well run, efficient, least corrupted and internationally admired in the world.

yeh that's why they filter hundreds of millions of pounds of tax payers money to pay for second homes, plasma screen TVs for those second homes, why they employ people within their own family and pay them wages from tax payers money and why Harriet Harmans husbands Porno films were all claimed for as expenses.
It's also why they vote for their own fricking pay rise every year.

 

[Deckerd]

All of the above doesn't actually preclude them from being good at their jobs. Your assertion is that they can't do their jobs because they fiddle their expenses. I don't see how the two are connected.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

All of the above doesn't actually preclude them from being good at their jobs. Your assertion is that they can't do their jobs because they fiddle their expenses. I don't see how the two are connected.

They clearly can't do their job, that's why the UK is in a worse position economically and financially than any other G20 nation and if they fiddle their expenses then they are corrupt, which is what the poster before me said they aren't.

 

[Caleuche]

No, it doesn't.
People get the governments they choose to vote in, so at the end of the day, the people have only themselves to blame.

 

[Squiggy]

Don't you people have a "peaceful political revolution" whenever the Prime Minister calls for an election?

Christ. People here (US) are saying the same thing. "A second American revolution is coming" and that sort of Tea Party shit. I hate to break it to ya...but we have "revolts" every 4 years or so. Sometimes you win a revolt, sometimes you lose one. It's a democracy (or in your case a quite fiefdom shire ruled by a merciless, tyrant Queen ), and sometimes you're in the minority. You don't like it, vote for someone else.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

No, it doesn't.
People get the governments they choose to vote in, so at the end of the day, the people have only themselves to blame.

yes we have such a great choice, we can choose the stupid corrupt conservatives or the stupid corrupt Labour party and so on and so forth.
There is no such thing as a choice in an election, it's all an illusion. They might look like opposition partys in front of the cameras but off the cameras they're all friends and family.

 

[Caleuche]

No, it doesn't.
People get the governments they choose to vote in, so at the end of the day, the people have only themselves to blame.

yes we have such a great choice, we can choose the stupid corrupt conservatives or the stupid corrupt Labour party and so on and so forth.
There is no such thing as a choice in an election, it's all an illusion. They might look like opposition partys in front of the cameras but off the cameras they're all friends and family.

Don't like the choice? Well theres nothing to stop you running for office yourself.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

No, it doesn't.
People get the governments they choose to vote in, so at the end of the day, the people have only themselves to blame.

yes we have such a great choice, we can choose the stupid corrupt conservatives or the stupid corrupt Labour party and so on and so forth.
There is no such thing as a choice in an election, it's all an illusion. They might look like opposition partys in front of the cameras but off the cameras they're all friends and family.

Don't like the choice? Well theres nothing to stop you running for office yourself.

yes there is. I've never understood people who believe I can possibly "run for office". I have neither the money, the qualifications nor the time left to enter politics. If i'd known when I was younger what politics was all about and actually known what politicians were like I could have gone that route but now it's too late. Unless someone is born into politics and born into a political oriented family very few people are going to even consider entering politics
Secondly even if I was able to run as local MP how does that change anything? I can't change the other MP's and their greedy corrupt ways, I can't become prime minister because to do that i'd have to join a political party at least as big as the top 2 just to be in with any kind of chance and that's going against my belief that they're useless greedy and corrupt, why would I want to join such a political party?

It's time people woke up to the truth. We can't do anything about the government and the people within it, it's too late, we are trapped. We might aswell be in a dictatorship.

 

[TheBrew]

You say you want a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world

 

[Deckerd]

yes there is. I've never understood people who believe I can possibly "run for office". I have neither the money, the qualifications nor the time left to enter politics. If i'd known when I was younger what politics was all about and actually known what politicians were like I could have gone that route but now it's too late.

Do you know how old Martin Bell (a man with no political experience and no political affiliation) was when he got so enraged with his local politican that he ran against him? 49. Are you 49 Tacky?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

yes there is. I've never understood people who believe I can possibly "run for office". I have neither the money, the qualifications nor the time left to enter politics. If i'd known when I was younger what politics was all about and actually known what politicians were like I could have gone that route but now it's too late.

Do you know how old Martin Bell (a man with no political experience and no political affiliation) was when he got so enraged with his local politican that he ran against him? 49. Are you 49 Tacky?

It's not just age, age is the smallest factor. Even if I ran for local MP it changes nothing.

 

[Tomalak]

It's time people woke up to the truth. We can't do anything about the government and the people within it, it's too late, we are trapped. We might aswell be in a dictatorship.

That's insulting to the people who live in genuine dictatorships. In the UK we get unemployment benefit, free healthcare, free education, freedom of speech, freedom of worship; there's plenty of food, access to clean water on tap; and you can moan about how repressed you are on the internet.

How naive are you?

 

[TedShatner10]

I agree the political system is deeply moribund and inbred, and that Britain is on some level more economically and socially fucked than many other developed country, but that doesn't mean Britain is ultimately doomed, and things getting worse could be a blessing in disguise.

 

[gwud]

A peaceful revolution would be lovely now, thank you. If people thought they might actually have a say in the way the country was run, we might take more of an interest in looking after it and ourselves.