“They are all at it! They all lie!”
A statement that I have heard many times and recoiled from on every occasion. Firstly, how do you know? Have you met them all? Secondly, I doubt for one moment that this observation is statistically provable. Finally, why the fuck would you want a criminal representing your interests in the big-ticket items – health, education, tax and law and order?
We live in a parliamentary democracy not a true democracy. In simple terms the masses give up a slice of their freedoms and place them in the hands of a select few, elected to represent what is best for us, our local communities, and the nation. Sorry to piss on your strawberries but contrary to popular myth there is no ‘will of the people’ since parliamentarians are presumed to know best and collectively no other entity within the universe can tell them what to do. They can, if so minded, ignore the masses, especially if it is likely to cause harm to the nation or themselves.
In my opinion those who hold this high office must behave in a manner that is demonstrably higher than the average person in the street. Leading by example means that the moral bar is of sufficient height that if someone intentionally falls below it there is only one remedy – the exit door.
I have lied in my private life but never in public office. I have never committed a crime in the latter terrain either.
Anyway, enough of my rhetoric for a moment, since the fact, rather uncomfortably for my view of the world, is this doesn’t necessarily chime with great swathes of the population.
Research published by Marko Klašnja in 2017 identified, quite depressingly, that repeated studies have shown that voters in mature democracies very often do not punish crooked politicians. For example, in the US Congress, involvement in a corruption scandal is hardly something to sweat the small stuff about since 60% of those incriminated win re-election.
Bleakly the lack of attention given by the average voter is the primary reason for allowing the cons to continue.
Sofia Breitenstein, in her academic paper “Why do voters choose corrupt politicians?” concludes that significant numbers of the electorate will choose to overlook corruption if they like other characteristics of the individual.
So where does this narrative lead us?
I rather like one of the best quotes Winston Churchill never made – “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
But then again, I think Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America called it right – “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
For fucks sake people, remove your head from your arseholes and smell the manure. Stop watching Britain’s Got Talent for one moment since Britain, at this precise moment, needs talent. Accepting talentless, sycophantic, truth twisting charlatans will one day end in tears – ours. Then again, cognitive dissonance disrupts all of this. The persuasive human characteristic that enables some to remain firmly in the deepest recesses of their own rectums, even in the face of observable, and often damaging, facts.
If I wasn’t already suspicious, I would contend that some in power actually play to this notion. But then again if your cerebral discord is hotwired to think only one particular way, frankly, you won’t give a fuck.
I started this blog feeling depressed and as I draw it to a close, I feel even more miserable.
So, in an attempt to raise a smirk please reflect on these sobering words (attributed rather dubiously to Mark Twain): “Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons.”
By the way if I have upset you then I’m sorry, and you should by modern convention, accept this and consider the matter closed.
As if.
© Ian Kirke 2021
Main photo by Brian Wertheim on Unsplash