This dishonest election,

Perhaps today democracy faces a deeper challenge than it has faced for decades. Elections are minutely orchestrated events: shows put on for the voters, and in these times truth suffers deeply.

The events of Easter week and Jesus’ confrontation with the Temple leaders are deeply political as part of their full Christian meaning. Jesus before Pilate locates his rule in the truth and witnessing to the truth, rather than in power. He insists that he is King of the Jews, their Godgiven ruler, though that truth will kill him.

He also nails public hypocrisy by the rulers, because it is the enemy of truth and justice. Rulers can be ‘whited sepulchres’ who do not practise what they preach and go after followers whom they then burden and oppress. Matthew 23 should be the meditation of every Christian before he or she votes.

Sadly, this election is substantially dishonest at a number of different levels. For the third time the Iraq War has been ruled out of consideration and reflection within the election, because the Chilcot Report has been buried in the long grass. That War, unjustly pursued, has resulted in half a million deaths that should not have happened, and much of the political establishment – Labour, Conservative and Civil Servants backed it and its illegality, but the electorate has been prevented from ever holding that decision to account. It has been a long-term political whitewash.

Second, as the Church of England Bishops have pointed out and the statistics show, we have become a fundamentally unequal society. Yet the rhetoric that the public has faced for much of the last five years from the Government and the rich media is of blame towards those who are benefit scroungers and are not “hardworking”, while for those years those in banking, and those who pretend overseas domicile, business address in tax havens and who receive windfall profits are ignored.

It is a classic case of straining at gnats - a few billions - and swallowing camels – hundreds of billions. As a result of this bias none of the parties dares do what is required, that is, to institute a strong wealth tax to rebalance the economy and help those who are destitute of resources, especially the young. Phrases like “the politics of envy” and “benefit cheats” have been allowed to obscure the politics of ordinary justice. As the Chief Priests accumulated gold in the Temple treasuries, so bankers and the rich accumulate it off-shore or as non-doms, while millions struggle for a living.

Third, the story that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have told about the economy has largely been a mirage. The present Government has not rescued the economy and the public finances, but exaggerated and partly misdefined the problem. Saying Labour left us in a mess is not honest.

Brown and Darling stabilised a banking crisis where Conservatives were also part of the problem by backing unregulated banking. Both parties left the financial sector in a mess.

At the same time, the “recovery of the economy” has been a fraction of a percentage over five years, and the recent rise is merely from earlier stagnation. The debt reduction has not taken place as planned, and the underlying issue in public finance has not been addressed until the election is imminent: - rich individuals, companies and banks have, for a couple of decades, avoided some £60-100bn a year in tax causing an underlying deficit in the Budget. So there is spin, rubbishing of opponents, false narratives and false claims of virtue.

We are back with the Chief Priests and the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. Yet, there is one underlying hypocrisy. We hear about the undeserving poor, benefit scroungers on the one hand and the hardworking rich on the other. It is the dominant selfrighteousness of the Cameron campaign.

Of course, some people work hard and others do not. Yet the dominant pattern is of the rich who have other people working for them – tens, hundreds of people work to keep them happy. “What would you like sir?” Gardeners, servants, web designers, builders, waiters, tax consultants, secretaries, managers, cheap overseas labour, holiday providers serve us, and the key indicator is how much of other people’s work, past and present do we absorb.

Many of us are parasites. On this measure most of us are lazy bastards living in the lap of luxury. We are the undeserving rich and there is a hardworking underclass spread throughout the world and in Britain who support us. They even bring food from the supermarket.

So this election is full of the hypocrisy and selfrighteousness of the affluent, especially of the baby boomer generation, who have received much and given little. We should be ashamed of ourselves, and some of us are. The Saviour promised that his yoke is easy. His truth is the truth - for all the people.

This election is substantially dishonest at a number of different levels