Thatcher sold everything off for a song to her chums. Just like Brexit! We were told of sunny uplands, huge investment and government oversight with teeth!!
Our gas, electricity, housing, water, post office, railways and school academies are all now making billions for foreign investors at our expense. Prices rise. Services are crap. The promised oversight and regulation is a paper tiger!
Never trust a Tory!! All they want are your money and votes. They lie!
Opher On Politics
When I was young I was pretty apolitical. As far as I was concerned politicians represented the establishment. The establishment was a bunch of extremely wealthy people who manipulated everything. Who you voted for meant very little because it was always the same people who held the power.
So I did not vote and did not involve myself in their games. I wanted out of the game.
As I became older, and had to work in the system (like most people) I began to see that it was more complex than that.
Firstly, few people were fortunately enough to have a skill/luck that enabled them to work outside the establishment.
Secondly, most people (musicians, writers, artists, actors, film stars, entrepreneurs and celebs) who were successful creatively were soon incorporated into the establishment. They thus had a vested interest in maintaining the system.
Thirdly, there was a practical difference in voting for a political party. They did make a difference to what happened on the ground – within limits.
Fourthly, it was not going to be possible to change the system.
Changing a leader in an institution, a nation or a global body makes a huge difference. In a business, a football club or a school, a leader can affect the whole ethos. They change the zeitgeist. That affects everybody.
I began to look at politics in terms of Four Levels – I called them Macro, Mega, Local and Personal.
Macro Politics
On the macro level nothing changes. A bunch of extremely wealthy people and corporation run the world.
They operate internationally.
Their focus is power and wealth (interchangeable). They use their money to manipulate markets, buy off politicians, corrupt officials, gain influence through lobbying, donations to parties and even more illegal means.
They create situations that pour the bulk of the world’s wealth into their pockets.
If an anti-establishment party comes to power they manipulate the money markets to starve them of money so their economies fail.
They use loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
They put pressure on through bribes, donations, promises and threats to achieve the legislation they want.
They want growth and more money.
They are prepared to use war, environmental devastation, mass exploitation, poverty and extreme force in order to crush opposition and maximise their profits.
They do not care about the outcomes for ordinary people or the environment.
They want tax loopholes, no workers’ rights, no environmental restrictions and no planning restrictions.
They only give ground if they are forced to.
The establishment run things, run governments and are leading the mad rush for growth that is destroying the planet.
I do not know if they act in unison, as a cabal, or in groups, or as individuals. They are the multinationals.
They control the media and thus manipulate the minds of the masses.
Mega Politics
Mega politics operates nationally. It is what we think of as political parties. The Tory and Labour Party. The Democrats and Republicans.
They all depend on donations. They all need the economy to work. They all require media backing. They all respond to bribes, promises and lobbying.
Without the donations they cannot become elected. Campaigns cost a lot of money.
Without a positive spin in the media they will not be elected.
Without an economy that works they cannot be re-elected.
Without support their policies will fail.
They are all open to bribery and corruption. It’s amazing how many politicians walk into plum jobs or sit on boards for huge sums.
The system is corrupt. The tax loopholes never get plugged. The tax is never properly paid (apart from ordinary people – then every penny is collected). The environmental and workers legislation only ever goes so far. The media is never properly controlled.
Nothing is ever fair. Everything (like the vote, workers’ rights and conditions, pay, equality) has to be fought for. Once won it is then easily eroded.
But, for all that, politics does count for something. The political parties are able to work within parameters.
In order to be elected they have to be pro-establishment (or the media rip them apart and people are manipulated – the economy is undermined in the short-term to get them out of office) so nothing fundamental changes – tax loopholes, taxation, workers’ rights, environmental laws, health and safety.
Within the parameters it is possible to finance the public services, increase workers’ pay, introduce health and safety, and introduce environmental legislation – just as long as it does not take too much wealth away from the elite.
So voting Labour or Tory, Democrat or Republican can make a big difference to the working people, those on welfare and the poorest in society.
It is worth voting even if it does not oust the real masters.
Local Politics
Local politicians can make an impact on how money is spent locally. They are open to the same bribes, corruption and lobbying as the national politicians (on a smaller scale) but they have control of large sums of money and can decide how it is spent.
This can make a huge difference to public services.
Voting for one party or another can make huge differences to what happens on the ground. These things impact on the poorest people in communities and the services they can access. They impact on the richness of the amenities that are available to the community.
Voting locally can make a huge difference.
Personal politics
How one lives one’s life is the politics of self. We can choose how we interact with others. We can choose how we interact with our society, environment or the people we meet, work with and are friends with.
We can make a pleasant environment or a frosty one. We can build or destroy.
We can influence what happens locally and even, to an extent, nationally.
How we choose to live our lives has moral/political implications.
I’m sure there’s a lot more that I can say. I might add to this later.
As Roy Harper (or Tubular Sock) might say – we can’t change the game. It’s always the same bosses. Politics is a game.
As Opher Gpoodwin says – we can still make a difference and democracy does make a difference – even if it can’t change the game.
Opher 11.12.2020
The Tiers of a Clown
Joking while the people die
At ten o clock we all shut down
Three levels for you and I
It’s the tiers of a clown.
In gaudy red wig and white face
A red ping-pong ball on his nose
International laws a national disgrace
He will cause mischief where-ever he goes.
There’s one level here and one level there
He’s turned the country upside down
A different story everywhere
It’s the tiers of a clown.
In gaudy red wig and white face
A red ping-pong ball on his nose
International laws a national disgrace
He will cause mischief where-ever he goes.
Cheerleading and then disappearing
World-beating and oven ready
With doomsday forever nearing
Look out!! He’s most unsteady!
In gaudy red wig and white face
A red ping-pong ball on his nose
International laws a national disgrace
He will cause mischief where-ever he goes.
Opher – 13.10.2020
Tory Propaganda Rag
I’m reading the Tory propaganda rag.
It makes me feel so good.
Hating all those foreigners
Just like I know I should.
Five million Turks
Are on their way
And the EU wants control.
But I’m wise to all their tricks
I know they want my soul.
The BBCs a leftist hive
And the civil servants are all red.
But Boris will sort them out
That is what he said.
The Muslims are all terrorists.
Refugees want my job.
There’s rapists, killers and drug dealers –
A complete leftist mob.
I’m reading the Tory propaganda rag.
I need my shot each day.
It puts me right on everything
And tells me what to say.
I know the facts are right
They tell it like it is.
With the Tories in power
We live a life of bliss.
Opher – 12.10.2020
The establishment run the media and drip-feed vitriol into the homes of everyone.
Lies and damn lies.
Spin and spin.
They tell us black is white, who to fear and which conspiracies are truth.
If you oppose the establishment then they’ll have it in for you. Everything you do will be exaggerated misreported and your name will be mud.
The media owns the minds of the people. They tell you what to think. The establishment formed the Tory party and bought up the media. They want to pu;ll the wool over our eyes, stop us questioning, stop us thinking and stop us voting in anybody who is not for the establishment.
That’s the way it works.
In the forthcoming election there is a choice between two governments with opposing ideology.
After the next election the country will be run by either the Tories, Labour or a coalition. I know what I would prefer.
The Tory party was formed by the wealthy elite to protect their interests.
The Labour party was formed out of the Trade Union movement to fight for the rights and wages of ordinary people.
Nothing has changed. If we cut through the rhetoric, lies and promises to look at what actually happens.
When Labour were in they increased pay and ran the public services properly. They also had the economy in the black until the world-wide crisis occurred.
When the Tories are in they cut pay, cut public services, worsen work conditions, slash pensions and make life miserable for the poor. They give tax cuts to the rich. In these times of austerity the rich have increased their wealth substantially. The inequality gap has widened enormously.
The media (including the BBC) are run by the rich with a strong Tory bias. They put out Tory propaganda to distort the reality. The tabloids are outrageous.
This is not a beauty contest between May and Corbyn; it is a choice between starkly different ideologies.
I vote for more fairness and equality, the protection of the environment and to protect our schools, social services and the NHS. I agree with Corbyn on most things – this country is being run for a small elite to the detriment of the rest of us. Something has to change!
What do you vote for?
