I thought that all political parties were the same – a greedy lust for power.
Experience taught me different.
It is obvious to me that any political party wanting to get elected has to be pro-establishment in order to stand a chance. The establishment has the money and controls the media. They pump out the propaganda. They control democracy. He/She who controls the news controls the minds. All too obvious. We saw that with the crucifixion of Corbyn. He was an anti-establishment threat. Starmer is much more acceptable. The changes he will make are superficial.
So, fundamentally, political parties are all pro-establishment – so there is no point in voting, right? No!!
While the establishment will remain largely unaffected by an election the impact on society can be enormous.
The Tories ALWAYS cut public services and hammer the poor. They ALWAYS give to the wealthy. That is what they were formed to do.
Labour have to restrict their policies in order to get elected but we can see from history – they properly fund public services and assist the weaker end of society. Even the Blair government (the most right-wing Labour government) did that. They supported education, health and managed the most healthy economy we have had post-war. The weakest in society were supported.
Voting makes a huge difference.
Under the Tories we see rough sleeping, food banks, huge cuts to education, health and social services and massive bonuses, tax cuts and wage increases for the wealthy.
Voting does make a difference.
I’m no longer apolitical. There are differences that mean life and death to people. I always vote!!
Opher, you can’t do anything much more wrong than to vote for a politician. In any case, there aren’t any elections in my local area this time round. But I think I may have nailed pseudo “democracy” with this one (a lot of fun!):
https://libertarianism.uk/2022/05/03/democracy/
Neil, despite all the faults with the system, the appalling nature of many politicians and the phoniness of democracy you have to admit that there are big differences in outcome between the parties. Not all politicians are the same.
Opher, it’s true that not all politicians are the same. A very few of them are at least partly human; or, at least, started out that way.
But I don’t agree about there being big differences in outcomes between the parties. Whoever is in power, government always costs more and gets worse. Since the end of Thatcher’s first term (1983), every UK government except one has been worse – in most cases, much worse – than its predecessor. That one exception was the Coalition of 2010, and the reason it was an exception was that Cameron and Clegg each contrived, for a time, to temper the other’s worst excesses. But since then, the Tories have resumed normal (dis)service. And Labour would be no better.
It’s where they spend the money that is crucial Neil. The Tories give it to their rich chums, Labour put more into public services and the needy. I know which I prefer. When it comes to sleaze and corruption Johnson and the Tories are in a world of their own.
To continue the tyrannosaur analogy, choosing between the two main wings of the Establishment Party is like choosing whether you will be bitten by the tyrannosaur’s top teeth first or by the bottom teeth first.
I disagree. Both are establishment parties but outcomes differ greatly.
I don’t see much if any difference in what the parties want. Labour made IR35 in the first place, the Tories (after initially saying they would repeal it) have strengthened and doubled down on it. Labour had the “green industrial revolution” crap in their manifesto, Johnson even borrowed the slogan! Both want high taxes, green policies and big government, and support the UN and other international elites in their push for an Orwellian world super-state. Two wings of the same bird.
BTW, in the “like” e-mails sent from your site at 12:46 or so yesterday, the “View comment” link doesn’t work. It links to http://ophersworldcom/2022/05/04/i-used-to-be-apolitical/?sn=c&c=331941#comment-331941. There’s a fullstop missing between ophersworld and com.
Put all that to one side Neil. Every sane person is wanting to deal with the environmental catastrophe as a priority – you’re out on a limb there. No political party is going to ignore the biggest catastrophe heading our way.
As for the UN. It is not a superstate and is the only way I can see of putting pressure on rogue states, despots, tyrants and runaway multinationals. They stand for human rights. Somebody has to.
They are taken for granted by all sensible parties (can’t believe I even include the Tories in that). The real differences are the ones that really affect peoples’ lives – funding of schools, police, roads (councils), hospitals and the lower paid.
You’re right in what you say there, Opher. Though you may not have meant it quite in the way that I read it! The reality is that all the political parties want to use the unfounded green scares, to bring in as much “revenue” as they can for themselves and their chums. The real catastrophe, that is heading our way, is the effects of the policies they are implementing in the name of fighting “climate change.” These policies are all gain for the politicians and their cronies, and all loss for ordinary people. And all founded on nothing but bad “science,” bad politics and media scares and hype.
When people start freezing to death because they aren’t allowed a gas boiler and can’t afford a heat pump, when people who live in the suburbs and countryside lose their social lives (and perhaps their jobs too) because they can’t afford to drive their cars any more, that’s when you will understand the real catastrophe. And you will know who is responsible for it; those who have supported the green nonsense. Including you.
Neil – did you ever do any sciences while at school?? If you knew anything about biology you’d be scared silly with what is ahead. Biodiversity has been devastated. The effects on us will be enormous even if you don’t care about them. The effects of global warming are beginning to manifest themselves but when intolerable temperatures, floods, droughts and fires really start to create the mass migration of billions of people then maybe you will realise.
You are stuck in a one-track mode. This is not bad science or a con-trick from politicians. Your hatred of politicians is blinding you. I’m sure that the profiteering ones will find a way to make a fortune just like they did out of covid and Brexit. That’s what that scum does. It doesn’t alter the fact that we need to take drastic action.
As for the costs – it makes sense on all fronts to produce cheaper energy from renewables (now cheaper than any other form of energy) and to insulate homes so they are efficient. Even on a financial footing, it makes sense.
Added to that is the benefit of no longer funding despicable nations like Russia and Saudi. The sooner we’re completely out of fossil fuels the better.
As an intelligent person, I really can’t understand why you have been duped by the bad science and propaganda streaming out of the fossil fuel industry. They are the ones who are profiting.
I think it’s your pride. You refuse to look at the evidence that is telling you that you are hopelessly wrong. Pride comes before a fall.
Opher my friend, you’re the one who is scared silly. And with no good reason.
At school, I studied not only mathematics, but physics and chemistry too. And I learned the scientific method. You form a hypothesis. You make predictions based on it. You test your predictions against reality. If they match, good; you refine your hypothesis, and continue to test it. If not, you have to modify your hypothesis, and re-test.
But why are you trying to tell me “the end is nigh?” Without providing any hard, checkable evidence? You’re an atheist, so you have seen through the “god” fraud. You would laugh as hard at someone wearing a sandwich-board saying “Jesus saves!” as I would. Why, then, can’t you see through the big-government and green frauds, too?
You make a good point, though, when you talk about “despicable” leaders like Putin and the Saudi king. But that’s a story for another day.
Lol Neil – the evidence is all around you but a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Try actually researching it. It is scary!