The idea of tyranny goes back a long way and this blog has no desire to serve as a history lesson. The key point that I want to get across is that a tyrant is a legal head of state/authority, when they pass legislation it is something we must abide to and destroying tyranny is no easy thing. In some cases simply chopping off a tyrant's head will not undo their actions as tyrants are often the result of a structural problem. (In our case the electoral system is broken).
What does some medieval political theory have to do with modern day Britain? I would argue it has everything to do with the political state of modern day Britain. Human beings have not evolved that drastically over the last few hundred years (Evolution takes a hell of a lot longer). We may understand ourselves more, we may have access to far superior technology but the actual psychology of humanity is something our scientists are still grappling with. That is to say we are still as greedy as ever and our Governments whilst claiming to be representative have continued to dismantle the the very mechanisms that helped our society become more equal. (Education, healthcare, access to legal representation).
This blog is going to deal with the issues of what happens when you vote and whether it makes a difference considering that the system has continually empowered a set of complete self-interested individuals. There is a potential problem that when you vote you from someone you have in fact empowered someone with no morals, or at least someone with a double standard. Once elected it is difficult to force an MP to stand down and we find ourselves stuck, forced to endure the machinations of madmen that seek to sell it all. A lot of voters have felt betrayed by our current coalition.
I have spoken to many people. A few elderly people informed me that will never vote Lib-Dem after witnessing the Atos assessments and bedroom tax that was essentially created in their name for the sake of austerity. They feel morally outraged that their support was used to legitimise actions that they feel are wrong. One person told me that is like we are marching back to pre-World War II Britain. By abstaining from voting one could argue that you are refusing to legitimise a party of tyrants that are seeking to drag us back. However I am arguing that these tyrants will rise regardless of how many do/don't vote.
In Yorkshire a 14% of voters actually turned up. Even with such a low percentage of the electorate turning up, a 14% turnout still counts. A man known as Alan Billings gained the position of Crime Commissioner. Labour's grand victory was given to them by 50% of 14% that bothered to vote. That means just over 7% of the population in South Yorkshire made a decision that affects the other 93%. How can such a vote be truly representative? Yet that vote stands. Alan Billings now holds the post of Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire. As far as I am concerned such a low turnout represents a vote of no-confidence from the people and the entire process needs an urgent overhaul.
Click on these words to learn about Yorkshire
If you voted for either party that is currently a part of the Coalition Government then you have inadvertently supported the cuts in legal aid, you have accidentally enabled the Bedroom Tax to become a thing (whilst it lasts), we enabled people like Ian Duncan Smith to treat the DWP like a China Shop at the World's Most Angry Bull Expo. (This is why a lot of voters have swung to the Greens, UKIP and other alternative parties). Raging bulls aside, the legal cuts have been ruining the lives of many people.
One prominent story that I have read involved two parents. The man is earning £34.64 above the threshold to qualify for legal aid. From my own experience, lawyers require a damn sight more than £34.64 per hour. So earning an additional £34.64 won't count for squat when some legal represents cost £150++ per hour. A judge weighed in on this predicament and said the legal cuts are enabling the state to " to remove a child from the couple while simultaneously failing to provide them with adequate representation". This is the literal embodiment of the phrase "a crying shame". A child is being snatched from the parents and the parents are not even given legal representation. How can our system have any kind of moral integrity when such instances like this are occurring?
Click on these words to learn about the prominent story
Our entire political system is re-writing the books. When the leaders of a country re-write the law to serve themselves and re-write the rules so that you are unable to hold others accountable whilst you are being punished for having the audacity to earn a pittance you no longer live in a fair and equal society. You are living in a tyrannical one where your rights are uncertain as you cannot afford to fight for them. (Courts are expensive when you have no money.)
The odd thing about our state's state of tyranny is that for the most part we will not notice it. Tyrannical laws are still legally binding and it is not until you hear about how soldiers have to pay the bedroom tax or how a dialysis patient was hit by the bedroom tax that people sort of notice (only a little). You can have immoral legislation (I.E The Bedroom Tax) and the only way to remove a tyrannical piece of legislation is to get into Government and re-write the book again... We think of tyranny being something of the past or a subject that relates to other regions of the planet. Tyranny can appear anywhere and it has been in the U.K for a long time. Thatcher made people angry, Blair made it evident when he took us to war despite the millions screaming against it and now this Coalition reveals it's true hand with idiots like Freud talking about £2 per hour for the disabled.
The big question is: If these tyrants are voted in...why would I want to vote?
Answer: You do not have to vote for them (Labour /Lib Dems / Tories.)
Problem: Our voting system however is bias, weighted in favour of the big three. How will my vote count?
UKIP are capitalising on this "they are all the same mentality" by presenting themselves as the rebels. I have seen UKIP campaign posters that have stated that the big three are all the same. People are angry and UKIP are gaining voters, this means they have seats in Europe and now thanks to Mark Reckless they have a seat in our Parliament. People are quite right to be angry but people that are quick to anger seldom read the fine print. (Myself included). We have to bear in mind that Farage views himself as Thatcher's white knight. UKIP intend to continue the strip mining of state assets. No one is grasping that yet people have been voting for UKIP.
We can abstain, we can stand back, we can say "No i don't want to tactically support a tyranny" but these men will rise and claim the votes of disaffected. They will spin webs of lies and ensnare this nation again into more of the same old thing. I hope the Greens continue to rise and that they make Labour lurch left in the same way that UKIP forced the Tories into lurching right. Voting can work when enough people vote (See: UKIP & the ensuing media fire storm). If the angry UKIP supporters are out there spreading bile, why are not refusing to pick up the broom and sweep that crap of our streets? If a small percentage in South Yorkshire were able to fight against hate, we have no reason to be sitting on the fence.
Together we are able to hold our tyrants to account. We can occupy and make our anger visible for all to see, we can trash the place and we can blow up Parliament but the problem is structural. The structural problem is that our system lacks accountability, we cast a vote and get stuck with people that are essentially unaccountable until the next election day or until someone calls a copper "Pleb". We must cast off the fear and notions of wasted votes, of political leaders all being the same. They only the same to the extent that they are all human, even Tories are human (trust me I saw one shed tears when someone joined the Labour Party). I believe that even though our system is broken, there is no sense shouting at it from the outside. Only from within can change happen. The welfare state is undergoing a controlled demolition, the explosives were placed there by our elected representatives. I want this devastatingly damning demolition diffused before I see McDonalds running a primary schools as an academy or GPSs working for Virgin (OOPS TOO LATE). Awh heck...
All the damage done over the last few decades was primarily dished out by our elected officials. Private companies nudge them and coerce them but MPs are our legally elected tyrants wielding the authority to rule like a bat and our Welfare state is the piñata. On election day just do something, once everyone has cast their vote and seen it turn to dirt maybe then we will forcibly overthrow the state but until we have all pitched in I sincerely doubt the general population has the balls to pull it off if it struggle to even tick a box. (This is the same cynical outlook that tyrants have, it is why they have attacked the Welfare state and sold off Royal Mail on the cheap. They think no one will go after them and so far they are correct.)
The mainstream media does not help matters. It has essentially thrown in the towel when it comes to investigative journalism but there are plenty of writers out there. Scriptonite Daily and Another Angry Voice are two prime examples.
Scriptonite Daily
Another Angry Voice (AAV)
Both are exceptionally better writers than myself and they tend to be up to their eyeballs in evidence.
The system is broken but unless you plan to physically overthrow the state, you must instead become a part of it and just like the Alien facehugger in Alien...well you know the rest. But instead of alien chestburster, you get equality, fair pay for women, all that jazz we've been fighting for and seeing little of.
If we do not get involved we will continue to see people elected into positions of power with a mere 7% of the vote. 7%,,,
Bear in mind that Boris Johnson thinks that trade union strikes should only go ahead if 50% of the union members turn up to vote.
Thank you for reading,
Have a great week,
The Common Sense Eccentric
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