Good riddance to 2017

A recurring theme of some (many?) of my past, more political posts (or rants) has been what I consider to be the challenges faced by UK society and the nature of the forces ranged against any movement seeking a fairer, more just system of government. Tempting though it is, I can't solely blame politicians for our current, rather depressing, state. As I've often opined, much of it is the fault of we, the Great British Electorate. It's true: you get who you vote for and you get the society you contribute to – or don’t, as the case may be. For generations the populations of the UK have bought into the great big lie of our governance: that it cares for the electorate, that it could be trusted to do the best for all of us and that everything was just the way it was meant to be. Sadly, through our inertia, we've allowed our system of government to perpetuate the cycle of legislative abuse. Worse, we've allowed them to tell us who to trust, who to vote for, who to alienate and who to hate.

As we move into 2018, the list of what we are up against today is daunting. Just ponder on these self-inflected burdens

• Poverty
• Hate crime
• Austerity
• Democratic deficit
• NHS and teaching underfunding
• Local government emasculation
• An ineffective government of buffoons and right-wing clowns
• An ineffective opposition
• Brexit
• Constitutional crisis
• Legislative abuse
• Food Bank growth
• Increasing social inequality

I could go on and on: the list is endless. I could copy and paste examples all day and I haven’t even touched on the usual subjects of ‘politics as it is practised’, the media, or a host of individual policies and scandals over recent years. Neither have I mentioned those momentous events in the outside world - Syria, Palestine, ISIS, Myanmar, Trump etc etc. If you are looking for something that needs to be opposed. If you are looking for baddies under the bed, or something to get outraged about, then there are plenty of examples to be found. There are people and causes who need help right here and now. Entire populations of these islands, fractured demographics, oppressed minorities. And those affected are all human beings, not abstract statistics or consumer units or service users. People who deserve more than they are getting, or are likely to get from this present malfunctioning administration.

Me? Maybe my problem is that I’m easily offended and outraged. Underneath a gruff exterior is a big softie and, rather disconcertingly, I'm getting softer the older I get. Here are a few things that get my goat at the moment.

• I get offended when those we actually pay to care for our wants and needs, abuse the trust we place in them.
• I am also somewhat miffed when those we empower put their own population in harm's way for the sake of party political advantage or pure greed-driven self interest (see under any campaign ever, but more recently the EU referendum). 
• They really p*ss me off when they steal from us, abuse their positions, sign our names on the dotted line for illegal wars, or sell arms to others for their wars and abuses of human rights.
• I am particularly offended when I see families in 21st century Cornwall go without. When they have to make a choice between feeding the children or paying the bills. And I do not exaggerate - I know that it's true.
• I get offended when those least able to defend themselves are preyed upon by empathy-free tossers in government who won’t know a day of hardship in their pampered, besuited, public expense fiddling, thieving, entitled lives. Those people, who know full well what they do and why they do it, are beneath contempt..
• I get infuriated by the deliberate infantilising of public debate and the patronising attitude of most politicians.
• I am contemptuous of those who profess adherence to a faith but act in ways directly opposite to the tenets of their faith.
• I almost burst a blood-vessel when I hear the normalisation of desperate situations that should be causing people to take to the streets to protest. Since when is it acceptable that the growth of food banks and the increase in the numbers of homeless on the streets is seen as 'normal'.

The buck still stops in the very same two places though. It stops with our system of central government and with US. The one we have currently feeds off the other’s compliance, acceptance and division. It needs that mix to continue doing all of the above examples and keeping itself and its patrons in the style to which they’ve become accustomed. That and being nearly totally unaccountable to those in its care. You can have a system of government, practice of politics and an establishment which demands your compliance, your loyalty and your obedience. Yes you can. You can have a system that uses intimidation, fear and uncertainty as political strategy and practice against its own population. You can live on a media diet of celebrity and vote this way because the other team’s ‘the wrong sort’ too. You can continue to be told who and what you are by folk you’ve never met, nor walked a mile in your shoes. You can stay on your knees and get kicked repeatedly for daring to think you’re as good as them

Or....

Or you can stand up and TELL them you’re as good as them. You can have a system that earns your vote, your loyalty, your appreciation and is obedient to the mandate you give it. You can have a government which offers care and aid to all of our population without favour, where and when it is needed. You can have a system of politics that rejects the tools of intimidation and fear because that’s how you want it. You can have a government that’s within the reach of the toe of your boot when it steps out of line, or when it’s politicians feel like dipping their sticky digits into the public kitty.

That choice is entirely up to us.

It’s not rocket science but it takes effort. It means getting off our arses and doing something. We do this together. We work together to fix this, or we lose more than you can possibly imagine. We dump the rosettes, the petty grievances, the chips on shoulders. We win by celebrating our differences and knowing that we are accepted by each other as a whole package. That’s kinda what it means to be a community, a population. We come from every walk of life imaginable and these days a fair few points of origin, but we ARE British citizens. Think about that for a second. Really think about what it means now and what it could mean.

You either govern for ALL, or you’re not fit to govern. Equally you either want a system of government capable of that, or you don’t deserve one.
I’ll leave it to you to make your own mind up, of course, but I know what I’d rather have. And that's it for 2017. No apologies for ending on a low note but I really am fearful about what I see as the dystopian future.