I Stand with Brand!

It's been really interesting reading the various comments and feedback about Russell's recent rants. 

Many of my friends on the left consider him irresponsible for advising people against voting. The fact that electoral reform has been a legitimate area of discourse within progressives movements for decades, hasn't detracted from the vitriol currently being heaped on the man. (check out Red Ken's book from 1987)

Many of my friends on the right consider it an affront to our heritage to suggest such a thing.

I think the thing that irks a lot of people is that, whether we like it or not, we understand that he has a point. Indeed, our very notions of 'modern' democracy utilize much of the language of ideologies emanating from the French revolution

Um...Note... That was a real revolution...

And nobody voted to be guillotined.  

A common argument from my friends on the left is that, if young people don't vote, then there is a likelihood that right wing extremists will gain power. I'm not entirely sure why, by this same rationale could it not be possible to assume that the green party could win a landslide? Whatever the outcome of this, it is a fact that significant institutional change is very rarely agreed upon by everyone, and unfortunately I can't think of any institutional shifts that avoid confrontation, can you? 

A common argument from my friends on the right seems to be that if you don't 'bother' to vote then then you are insulting all your relatives who fought and died for your right to vote. 

But honestly, even though I am not a massive fan of the man (I do love him in 'Get him to the Greek'!) I have to agree with a lot of what he reports. I feel the ridiculous pantomime of party politics and propagandist media really does need a shake up. 

Having witnessed first hand the (ongoing!) corporate theft of public resources in London, during successive Tory, Labour and coalition governments; I have become disillusioned. I am not naive. I understand the role of elites; but our families paid for an infrastructure in the UK that has been stolen. 

Which ever way you look at it, that's our money. 

I recently finished facilitating a course on western civilization at a university here in Asia, and I have to say, I am just shell shocked by the complete hypocrisy of post Enlightenment libertarianism and the legacy of the 20th century.

I have no faith in the institutional frameworks of the UK centred in London. They are morally and ideologically bankrupt and they no longer serve the interests of the majority of people who live on the island. It's bread and circus politics at its worst. This has been an interesting 500 years or so, but maybe it's time to move on. Western cultural models have not proved particularly humanitarian in the global arena; so, why don't we try something new? 

If the concept of 'democracy' is so meaningless to the UK political classes, then let's have a more honest system of government. If your vote has no meaning, then why brag about it's intrinsic value? What does it mean to vote if you are shut out of any effective political discourse? It is worthless. If it has lost it's value, then it has no currency. Telling everyone that they are so much happier and healthier because they can choose between 'Coke' and 'Pepsi', 'New Labour' and 'Tory' is a lie, and I think more and more people are beginning to realize this. 

Long may the debate continue, and long may gobby comedians continue to say the things that make us uncomfortable. Cheers Mr B.