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Have You Lost Faith in Politics?

Posted: 15/05/2012 00:00

This year is a very political year for many countries. France has just voted in their new leader, Greece will do shortly and the USA elections beckon.

Hundreds and maybe thousands are spent on elections. We just heard how George Clooney held a party and raised millions - 15 to be exact - for the Obama campaign. That was after Republicans have banked multiple of that.

We have been bamboozled with virals, advertising and speeches. Then the leaders have pulled out of the bag their election gold bullets. Hollande's was to tax millionaires by 75%. Obama just now announced he is pro gay marriage. Then as soon as they are chosen they 'readjust their policies'. Funny that.

This is exactly what happened in the campaign for Blair. The New Labour campaign was one of the sparkliest in a long time. Jazzy theme tune and logo. Compared to the fusty old Conservatives and Maggie's iron fist approach it felt upbeat and contemporary. He then went round the country having conversations with his people. He listened to their problems and promised to help them.

Many Brits look back at his years in power with a deep sense of disappointment. He promised to be the people's leader but he spent more time on foreign affairs than he did on home ones and quickly earned the label of 'President Blair'.

The campaigns this year have rehashed the same great statements and promises of previous candidates. "France forte!" or "Mighty France!" from Sarko and then unoriginally "Time for change" from Hollande.

My question is not whether one party is better than the other. It is this - is the political system is simply outdated?

People want the truth more than ever and no more BS. The web now means there is no running away from the facts.

Countries have tried to impose firewalls but bloggers have found ways of using code to communicate what's really happening.

Most of all politicians need to stop trying to wow and impress us and start trying to understand and help us.

I was struck in the Sarkozy/Hollande debate how elitist and pompous political language has got. Language that is so jargony and technical it makes no sense to most. Eurobonds. Growth. Austerity.

People want to know what these words mean for them individually. They want stuff made simple.

Instead of education talk about children and schools. Instead of economy it should be your money and job.

It would also be completely revolutionary to actually offer people what they really need and what's good for them.

Wellbeing would be a good beginning.

A system for learning that allows children to flourish, that encourages their skillset. Creative souls are still today either left to wither or put in a different box like Steiner.

Instead of being obsessed with drugs we should take a leaf out of the Chinese medicine book and focus on prevention and promoting a nourishing way of life.

Instead of a culture of workaholics people should be encouraged to work to live and have a rich life outside of the office.

Ask yourselves are you happy with your life and then what is your government doing to help? Isn't that the role ultimately of a government, to create a better world for the people, not themselves or their ego?

And the people have the power now thanks to Twitter and Facebook. We should demand more from our politicians. It's all very easy to give an eloquent speech that some ivory tower advisor wrote. We should put our future presidents to the test, with real live situations and even real time experiences in real companies. Most like Hollande have spent their life in the theory of politics.

Political parties should be made up of people like you. We pride ourselves that X politician went to a top business school or Y is from a certain family. What about their experience of disaster, poverty, joblessness?

Time is indeed ripe for change. For the people it's time to say enough is enough and demand a more human and life enforcing way of running countries.

Every country deserves this. Greece has gone to pot as the so called powers that be have spent away the public money. UK did away with factories in the 80s and all the jobs that went with it. USA now force girls who want to have an abortion to have a scan three times before they abort.

All their decisions. All choices beyond our control.

If you feel this way sign up to the new campaign of the people - enough is enough.

 

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This year is a very political year for many countries. France has just voted in their new leader, Greece will do shortly and the USA elections beckon. Hundreds and maybe thousands are spent on electi...
This year is a very political year for many countries. France has just voted in their new leader, Greece will do shortly and the USA elections beckon. Hundreds and maybe thousands are spent on electi...
 
 
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20:30 on 18/06/2012
I understand the point about making politics easier to understand, but I fear if we go down that route then we will end up with the dumbing down of politics, like we have seen in all other forms of life. take the BBC for example, I'm not exactly the most enthusiastic Monarchist but if the BBC insist on covering the river pageant then they should at least do a good job, instead of showing Fearne Cotton being knighted by a transvestite on live television. Next thing you know we'll have celebrities as politicians and I'd rather have the people in suits who know what they're doing.
19:32 on 16/05/2012
Don't be silly. You try to inspire people when you have the opposition screaming half truths in your face, journalists picking apart everything to say, have said or "implied" and when they come up short just picking on some element of character they find annoying. Couple that with an insatiable 24 hour newscast that requires stories stories STORIES! Insight, intrigue and innuendo.

The headlines "Cameron continues to carefully monitor debt situation whilst Britain enjoys record low interest rates" or "Brown spends torrid hours in office agonising over bank bailouts whilst being unfairly lambasted" have never been and will never be written.

Our politicians are the most honest, bravest politicians around. Neither French Presidential candidate has explained the trouble France is in or said that cuts are on their way. Not Romney or Obama has a decent plan for getting america into solid growth or out of the debt spiral.

On the other hand Labour entered the last election with a decent and tough looking cuts program only to be beaten by the Tories who had an even braver program. Meanwhile the Liberals have forgotten their protest politics ways and joined one of the most radical governments Britain has ever had and by far the best government in the Western world.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
18:41 on 15/05/2012
Hundreds of thousands of people of different political persuasions have lost faith in their own parties, their parties, all of them fail to recognise or accept it is their policies and their attitudes that are driving their supporters away.
In normal everyday life we all accept conssessions with the views of others why cannot political parties do the same instead of throwing the same old rhetoric at us all the time.
I honestly believe they don't care what we think, none of them.
16:47 on 15/05/2012
Have I lost faith in politics? No. Have I lost faith in politicians? Yes to a greater extent. Those we elect to represent the people seem to have forgotten that aspect.
13:38 on 15/05/2012
80% of legislation passed by parliament originates from the EU. Therefore 80% of the legislation is likely to go down like a lead balloon with the majority of the UK public as it is seen as having nothing to do with their problems. UK politicians know this and are therefore forced to maintain the pretence that they originate these policies as admitting the truth could only damage their future voting prospects.
It also means that the three parties have great problems in distinguishing themselves from the other two.
It is quite obvious that both UK and EU governments exist primarily to serve the interests of large international companies. There is a large but secret lobbying industry in the UK and there are reckoned to be up to 12,000 lobbyists for the EU.

It's only older people who have lost their faith in politics. Talk to people in their 20s and 30s and you will find they have never had any faith in politics and do not vote because they see no point as they know it is irrelevant to their life chances and problems.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
18:42 on 15/05/2012
Got it in one.
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10:37 on 15/05/2012
"Have You Lost Faith in Politics?" Yes!!! Since 1979.
09:15 on 15/05/2012
It has become obvious to most ordinary people that the 'politics/' of the last four decades has been to impress on the people the principles of a grab it all system, one that only favours the money being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, along with it being emptied from the money pit of the national exchequer out and beyond the borders of the nation where it cannot be accessed for the purpose that money exists. to be circulated and widely spread, thereby forcing a revolutionary movement in the economy, which revitalises and refreshes the business and consumption derived from the commercial activity generated.

In fact what is needed is not dependence on monetarism, and avarice, but a superb new look at the way the economy is managed overall.
We don't need a 'political' system any .longer, what we do need is a constructive management system, we should be voting for competence, delivered by those whose commercial management skill has been honed in actual business, not in school yard yahoo games, particularly in the hallowed halls of daddy funded Eton or Harrow.
Most of our failures is purely down to incompetence, as one government after another have come in , only to demonstrate their uselessness in management, often, once in Westminster,to a point of grabbing personal gain to the disadvantage of those who stupidly fell for their pre Westminster rhetoric