Some general nonsense and linkage from a bloke who spends his time building websites, moaning about stuff, brewing various types of brown booze, and riding a motorbike.
Political engagement and grass-roots campaigning
Apparently we are increasingly disenfranchised when it comes to party politics in the UK, and there is a strong feeling that the political classes are more detached from the views and concerns of the man on the street than at any time in living memory.
Old news, you might think.
In the run up to the expected demolition of labour government general election in 2010 there is an increasing call for grass-roots action and citizen engagement in the political process from an increasingly online and technically-savvy audience, but what of the afore mentioned man on the street? Do the disenfranchised yet politically engaged middle classes run the risk of further alienating the “average” member of the electorate with a new wave of political rhetoric that fails to address their core concerns? Will the engaged minority outweigh the apathetic majority?
To my mind the failure is not purely one of policy, it is one of process.
The western democratic model of short-term electoral cycles necessarily promotes short-termism in policy and a reticence to invest in long-term strategy that may entail short-term suffering in the name of long-term progress and stability due to the simple expedient of being seen to make everyones life noticeably better in no more than 4 year intervals.
Whilst we are currently seeing an increase in political rhetoric focussing on building a steady recovery from the current global recession that is very much a forced march - as Chancellor Gordon Brown presided over the years of excess and self-delusion that led to the fall and he wasn’t seen calling for a more considered, steady, and pragmatic approach until the wheels had all but fallen off the economy.
Perhaps now is actually a good time to promote those “hard to swallow” policies that might make a genuine difference down the line - the populace has already realised that the economy isn’t going to swing back to its champagne-swigging highs over night, so why don’t we take the opportunity to plan for a new economic and political future?
