markreed.cjb.net - The New Democracy

THE NEW DEMOCRACY

I’ve lost all faith in the political process. Now, there’s always the view that whoever you vote for the government always get in, but you know what? That’s more true than anything else you will hear in years.

When I was working Inside The Whale of Government, that is deepest darkest Civil Service in Peru (next to Paddington Bear in a call centre), I learnt more about the machinations of the huge beast that is The Government than in a million textbooks.

Civil Servants are just that : Servants : and whilst they do whatever they’re meant to do, and meant to serve their masters equally and without bias, they, like everyone else, are interested in running the country like a business. The Government can’t go out of business : if it does, then we have no Government. We’re throwing money out of windows into passing wheelbarrows and running off to the bank like Germany in the twenties. We are living in the age of madness.

A FAITHLESS AGE

The fact that I have now lost faith in the democratic process presupposes that I used to have faith. Faith is something that by its very nature, relies on a belief on something for which there is no proof, no evidence of either its existence in any form. For a long period of time, democracy has been our religion.

We couldn’t see it. We couldn’t feel it. There was no proof of its existence ; by cause, effect, or material form. We just knew it was there. But now I’m having a crisis of faith. I voted for a left wing socialist : I ended up with a right wing warmongering, lying, Christian capitalist Idiotfuck. And I’m not talking Prime Minister Bush here, but President Blair.

But that’s not why I have lost faith in democracy, though it should be. I kinda almost expected to get betrayed by Politicians. Isn’t it odd that politicians are the one profession that I feel almost betrayed by if they don’t betray us? That somehow, buy not letting us down, that we feel let down?

That’s odd. Almost as odd as the belief that if anyone wants that much power, they should automatically be disqualified from having it. If someone wants that much power, then surely they’re not actually fit to run the country? Me and My Big Ideas, eh.

Yeah, that’s odd. But My crisis of faith comes from something else. Something worse. See, I don’t trust politicians. I don’t know how they became politicians. I don’t know what qualifications or training one has. You see, for other jobs, my job, or even working in a McDonalds, you have training, qualifications - even if it is a McDegree from Burgerversity in Patty Making.

POLITICIAN ACADEMY 7 : MISSION TO MOSCOW
But Politcians? There is no Politician Academy (let alone Politician Academy 7: Mission To Moscow). There is no training programme, no professional qualifications, nothing. No Politician101, no code of ethics, no exams one must pass in order to be a politician. No, you just make it up as you go alone. So here we are : politicians have no information on ethics, no formal training on business, machinations, the environment, ethics, or anything. And they’re The Idiots At The Wheel.

Suffice to say that if George Dubya Bush would’ve flunked Politician Academy if he’d gone : been a first year drop out far more interested in drinking (isn’t he a dry drunk?), lying, and draft-dodging than anything like Serving The People, not Serving Yourself From The Bar.

I have no faith in politicians.

But can you blame me? I’ve never seen a politician at work. Never seen a politican try to do the things we do daily : never seen a politician attempt to fill in an IQ test, take an aptitude test, never even seen them in any situation which is not a carefully scripted and controlled interview session. The point is I’ve never seen a politician work.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

This is how we should elect Politicians : Political Big Brother. Get them all, all the major Presidential or Prime Ministerial candidates, and stick them in a house. Observe them 24 hours a day, cameras in every room, establish daily tasks (could be political, could be the housework), cut them off from the Outside World and charge them with managing certain circumstances – for example, give them a weekly budget equivalent to one week’s dole, or task them with 8 kids to look after for the day, or maybe something like that, and bingo…. Then you can see exactly how grounded in reality politicians are. What they’re really like.

As the weeks go on, the public vote off who they don’t want to lead them. And then… the final. The showdown. The Great Debate. Each politician is asked a question (Gay marriages, for example), and they must answer honestly. If they are successful, and then break those policies in office they get the sack.

So you gotta be telling the truth. Plain and simple.

And on the basis of those answers, the public votes for its leader. Plain and simple. Every time. No bullshit. No flannel. No corporate management doublespeak. Just a quick easy understanding of the personalities and the policies. No corporate party line : you find out straight away what they really believe in, how they really feel. And there you are – nobody can ever say they feel betrayed. That ladiesn’Gennelmen, will be Politics in action, Live, in front of your very eyes.

Only then, and maybe then, free of bullshit, hypocrisy, secret backroom handshake deals and outright lies, will we get the politicians we want, the policies we want. Maybe then we might get the democracy that they claim to hold in such high esteem.

It’s time. Bring on the New Democracy.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws