TAVERN OF THE SEAS david biggs Back when MPs actually tried to make a difference
IN THE ‘Good Old Days’, when members of parliament represented their people and not their parties, there was a story about the MP for Colesberg, which may be an urban legend, but I like to think it’s true.
In those days members of parliament were not paid. They stood for election because they felt they owed it to their community and could make a difference.
This MP was, of course, a horse farmer and he set off for Cape Town on horseback to attend the parliamentary session. Nine-hundred kilometres later he arrived in Cape Town, found affordable lodgings, unsaddled his horse, smacked it on the rump and sent it off in the direction of home to save on stabling fees.
A week later the horse arrived, tired but undamaged, on his farm. They still breed wonderful horses in the Colesberg district. I am not sure I can say the same about the politicians there.
The point of my story is that in those days people stood for Parliament to represent their people – their communities. They were prepared to travel to Cape Town at their own expense to make sure the folk they represented got a fair deal when laws were promulgated.
Elections were about people, not parties.
Voters supported the person they felt would represent their interests. I believe that was real democracy.
Today it’s all about political parties, not people. We vote for a vague set of ideas, then a group of politically motivated people decide who will speak on our behalf when laws are made.
Toe the party line
The people who, theoretically, represent us, are not free to express their own views. Or ours.
They are expected to vote according to the dictates of their party. If they do not toe the party line they can be booted out of the party and lose a very well-paying job. Obviously they place their allegiance to their party way ahead of their allegiance to their people.
As in sport, it’s all about the money. Politics is safer than sport, though, because MPs don’t have cameras trained on them to see whether they’re slipping a piece of sandpaper down their pants.
I seriously think we have lost the whole point of democracy.
In a real democracy I could call my representative and say: “Please could you send somebody with a bulldozer to move the sand that has buried Simon’s Town station. There are hundreds of people who can’t get to work economically every day.”
If I did that today I would probably be told : “Sorry, our party does not travel by train.”
Life may be a great big party to the politicians, but it’s rather more serious to us normal people.
LAST LAUGH
A man walked into a bar with a huge pit-bull on a leash. The dog saw a piano and headed for it.
“Hey, keep that dog away from my piano,” said the barman.
“I advise you to let him play,” said the owner.”
“He can play Bach cantatas and if you don’t let him play he attacks.”
Grudgingly the barman opened the piano and immediately the animal started pounding the keys, making a dreadful tuneless racket.
When the dog left the barman muttered: “I shouldn’t have allowed him to play. I’m sure his Bach is worse than his bite.”