Been looking at the candidate's lists in Scotland and it makes depressing reading. They certainly seem to be working on the principle of sticking the right coloured rosette on a donkey and it'll get votes. Of the 23 candidates standing for the main parties, 9 are long term career politicians who've been in the game 20, 25 years or more. No doubt now collecting their reward for long years of Party service, all of them would be automatically barred by Jury Team under our three term max rule. Seeing the looks of stunned astonishment on the Westminster lot as the public vent their anger, it's easy to see that when people spend too long in politics they lose touch with the real world. They simply do not have a clue how ordinary people live.
Going down the lists, there's the usual suspects. Six of them are working the University-"Researcher"-MP/MEP route. A tried and tested method that makes sure that Party lickspittles keep beavering away in hopes of reward. Not having experienced a real job, little wonder that when the Party says "Jump" they don't even come back down until they get permission. There's a couple of bureacrats who no doubt know all the shady tricks of the EU and the usual mix of party workers and activists, mostly there to make up the numbers.
There are a couple of what I would call real people, people who have done a day's work and got their hands dirty. People for whom the receipt from Tescos doesn't automatically go into an envelope marked "Expenses", but they're both pretty far down the lists and have no chance of election. Probably there as the token "member of the proletariat" to be wheeled out in front of the cameras as somehow being evidence that the Party is linked to the real world.
It's depressing reading really. If we're going to change politics for the better, make it more accountable and relevant, then these just aren't the people to do it. They've all got a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
No doubt some will get elected then off they'll toddle to Brussels, never to be seen again until the next election. Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose, as our French chums would say.
Well stuff that. Let's send a rocket up the arses of the main parties and let them really know they've gone too far this time. If you're reading this and thinking "I'm a party man and I'll always support them", here's your chance to really get their attention.
The Parties don't really care about Europe, they don't care about MEPs. Can you name an MEP? Well done you if you can because the vast majority of the public can't. That's because the Parties use Europe as a dumping ground for their more embarassing but too-senior-to-be-sacked members. They use it as a reward for long-serving Party members & activists and as a training ground for students. Why do you think no Jack Straw's, Malcolm Rifkind's, John Sweeney's or Charles Kennedy's go for an MEP slot? They would undoubtedly get first place on the Party list and be guaranteed a slot. The answer is MEPs are effectively powerless Party functionaries who get ignored by the media. The six from Scotland are swallowed up by the mass of more than seven hundred other MEPs. All the bullshit being spouted about "A Stronger Voice for Scotland" is just that - bullshit. They pounce on any piece of EU legislation that benefits Scotland and promptly announce "I did that. That was me that was." Like hell it was. Do you think six MEPs can persuade the other seven hundred to do something for Scotland?
No, let's use this election to do something different. Let's show the Parties that we're serious about wanting them to change, we're seriously hacked off with the corruption and we're serious about wanting to be heard. Vote for an Independent. It's not being disloyal, it's not going to hurt your preferred Party in the slightest. But it will make them realise that reforming themselves is urgently necessary.
Going down the lists, there's the usual suspects. Six of them are working the University-"Researcher"-MP/MEP route. A tried and tested method that makes sure that Party lickspittles keep beavering away in hopes of reward. Not having experienced a real job, little wonder that when the Party says "Jump" they don't even come back down until they get permission. There's a couple of bureacrats who no doubt know all the shady tricks of the EU and the usual mix of party workers and activists, mostly there to make up the numbers.
There are a couple of what I would call real people, people who have done a day's work and got their hands dirty. People for whom the receipt from Tescos doesn't automatically go into an envelope marked "Expenses", but they're both pretty far down the lists and have no chance of election. Probably there as the token "member of the proletariat" to be wheeled out in front of the cameras as somehow being evidence that the Party is linked to the real world.
It's depressing reading really. If we're going to change politics for the better, make it more accountable and relevant, then these just aren't the people to do it. They've all got a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
No doubt some will get elected then off they'll toddle to Brussels, never to be seen again until the next election. Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose, as our French chums would say.
Well stuff that. Let's send a rocket up the arses of the main parties and let them really know they've gone too far this time. If you're reading this and thinking "I'm a party man and I'll always support them", here's your chance to really get their attention.
The Parties don't really care about Europe, they don't care about MEPs. Can you name an MEP? Well done you if you can because the vast majority of the public can't. That's because the Parties use Europe as a dumping ground for their more embarassing but too-senior-to-be-sacked members. They use it as a reward for long-serving Party members & activists and as a training ground for students. Why do you think no Jack Straw's, Malcolm Rifkind's, John Sweeney's or Charles Kennedy's go for an MEP slot? They would undoubtedly get first place on the Party list and be guaranteed a slot. The answer is MEPs are effectively powerless Party functionaries who get ignored by the media. The six from Scotland are swallowed up by the mass of more than seven hundred other MEPs. All the bullshit being spouted about "A Stronger Voice for Scotland" is just that - bullshit. They pounce on any piece of EU legislation that benefits Scotland and promptly announce "I did that. That was me that was." Like hell it was. Do you think six MEPs can persuade the other seven hundred to do something for Scotland?
No, let's use this election to do something different. Let's show the Parties that we're serious about wanting them to change, we're seriously hacked off with the corruption and we're serious about wanting to be heard. Vote for an Independent. It's not being disloyal, it's not going to hurt your preferred Party in the slightest. But it will make them realise that reforming themselves is urgently necessary.
A vote for an Independent is a vote for yourself.
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