Got a simple solution? You’re either lying, deluded...or both
IT is probably not too much of a stretch to say politics in the UK is a bit of a mess. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum (perhaps political cesspit is a better word), and whatever your feelings on Brexit, I think we can all agree that our politicians in Westminster seem totally stuck.
Problems large and small are simply not being addressed. Over and over again I have heard people blame democracy for this problem.
This has taken many forms. Take the whole Leave/Remain debate. Democracy has been simultaneously used, blamed and “defended” all the way through it.
From the Leave side you hear the lines that people need to “respect democracy” and “restore sovereignty”.
From Remain you hear the repeated phrase that direct democracy (of which referendums are a form) are a stupid way to make decisions.
This is similar to what we see across the pond. How many times have you heard about how stupid/racist/inept Americans must be to have elected a “toupee-wearing genital grabber” as a president?
However, to blame democracy for the terrible state we are all in is to fundamentally miss the point.
The issue is not democracy – it is a lack of it.
Take Trump in the US. It is all very well to deride Americans for voting for him but it is not that simple.
Firstly, most Americans did not vote for him. Less that 57% of eligible voters actually bothered to vote and of them, 46.1% voted for Trump (compared to 48.2% Clinton).
This means that almost three million more people voted for the Democrat candidate.
For that you can thank the electoral college system.
We have the same issue here. In 2015, under our system one party won a majority with just 36% of the vote. They were only 6% ahead of the next party and yet ended up with about 100 more MPs.
We have a government that most people don’t want. However, a far bigger problem is what this causes.
When, year after year, election after election, most people turning up to
vote don’t feel represented several things happen.
The first is that people stop bothering to vote – which makes us even less democratic.
Secondly, issues start to fester. If you have a problem and your vote repeatedly fails to solve that problem, that problem gets bigger and bigger. When poverty, declining public services and the gap between the rich and poor are not addressed they only get worse.
Thirdly, people stop having a stake in the system. Once people have no input into how a system works and simply have to endure what it throws at them, resentment builds to breaking point.
When people are struggling, bubbling with resentment and have no power they are easy prey for populist politicians’ secret weapon – the simple solution.
Almost every political problem is like the 2013 Facebook relationship status “it’s complicated”.
Anyone who tells you they have a simple solution to these problems is deluded, lying or both.
However, when our democracy is not fit for purpose these solutions spring up everywhere. Waiting for a GP appointment? Cut immigration. Can’t get social housing? Cut immigration. Not much cash? Leave the EU. Increase in crime? Longer prison sentences. Young people rowdy? Military service.
Violent crime increasing? Introduce the death penalty. Government short on cash? Must be benefit scroungers.
If the answers were simple they would have been solved. They haven’t, because they are not.
Added to all this, our creaking Westminster system is also under attack from within. The people at the very top talk of bypassing parliament. When MPs commit crimes they are allowed to stand again.
In 2019 we still have hereditary peers! People are literally allowed a seat in parliament because their daddy did.
Our problems all stem from the fact that the powerful can remain in power by listening to fewer people.
The only solution to all of our issues is more democracy not less. We need to nurture these systems. This is not just preserving them but allowing them to evolve when they are not fit for purpose.
Our problems stem from the fact that the powerful can remain in power by listening to fewer people