"Government by the people; That form of Government in which the sovereign power resides in the people and is exercised either directly by them or by officers elected by them."
If you entertain the amusing notion that modern Geat Britain is a democracy a few seconds contemplation of that definition should rapidly disabuse you. A couple of weeks ago many people in England and Wales went to the polls to elect local councillors. I was one of them. The fact that I did so was almost a conditioned reflex; as I suspect it was for many of the people who dutifully placed their crosses against their chosen candidates. The truth is, very few of us really believe that the act of voting has anything other than symbolic importance any more. We may, individually and collectively, genuflect in the direction of the democratic ideal but we all know that, for reasons most of us can no longer define, democracy is slipping away from us like a half-remembered dream.
We know how it is meant to work. As the OED says so clearly, it's Government in which power resides in the people and is exercised by them or on their behalf by elected representatives. Or, as the Americans more succinctly put it : Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
We also know that our leaders are confirmed disciples of the process because they never fail to tell us so as they send young British soldiers to die and be maimed in the name of democracy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Few world leaders can emote so sincerely as Blair, Brown or David Millimetre in the name of democracy. Unfortunately, there is a disjunction between their fine words and less than fine actions. The governance of Great Britain in the 21st Century owes more to Vladimir Putin than Thomas Paine. If you don't believe me, consider just a few recent examples.
- The creation of Rowland Hill, the General Post Office was once one of those peculiarly British institutions - along with our education system and NHS - of which we could justifiably be proud. The concept of a delivering an item of mail to anywhere in the land for a set fee was so revolutionary that, in its own way, it was as important to the establishment of democratic government as Universal Suffrage. For the first time, thanks to the penny post, people all over the country were able to exchange news and information as and when they felt like it and not when officialdom in all its guises decided to share it with them. That concept of Universal Delivery survived two World Wars, untold changes of administration, floods and the Great Depression. The one thing it couldn't survive was the dead hand of the European Union. Amid all the debate about Post Office closures, the loss of the second post and the prospect of privatising the Royal Mail, the one fact that the politicians of all stripes have been desperatel to play down is that they can do nothing to turn the situation around. And the reason that they are so powerless is that all of the Post Office's ills are attributable to an EU edict that forced it to open up its services to commercial competition. To cut a long story very short, those competitors fell on the profitable bits of the business like wolves savaging a lone calf, leaving the Royal Mail to struggle along with the not-so-profitable parts. Hence, for the first time in a couple of decades, the business is now haemorraging money. What has this to do with democracy? Simple. When were any of us in this country given the opportunity to discuss, disagree with or refuse the legislation that has crippled our postal service? Answer: NEVER. The EU legislated and our administrators did what they always do when it comes to the EU, rolled over to have their tummies tickled. What makes it worse of course, is that none of the legislators in question was or ever will be elected to their highly remunerated positions. They were appointed by a Commission that is, itself, an unelected body. Government for the people by it's elected representatives? I think not.
- A few weeks ago - a life time in Politics - Not SO Flash Gordon promised that he would drop the pay as you throw taxes for rubbish collection by local councils. He made the promise in the aftermath of his party's mauling at the local elections. Quite what good he thought the statement would be AFTER the event is anybody's guess. Perhaps, his script writer slipped the "No more pay as you throw taxes" speech into the pile after the one about " getting on with the government of this country" but before " making the longe-term decisions that need to be made". Whatever the reason, there is little doubt that Gordon promised to rein in the more over-excitable councils who were handing out fines to rubbish bin sinners like sweets at a children's party. With the elections behind him and no immediate reason to score extra Brownie points, Gordon has now lost interest in the topic. The truth has managed to break through the froth of lies and broken promises that passes for what New Labour calls News Management. And that truth is that, even if Brown wanted to stop the "Pay as you throw taxes" he couldn't. It's the EU again, see. Apparently, on the advice of a group of Professors in Dresden ( ex-East Germany, significantly) the EU has ordered member states to introduce the taxes across the board. And not merely to introduce them but to establish Rubbish Police equipped with SatNav chipped bins and trackers, to enforce the taxes. Exemplifying the EU's unique take on democracy, these professors caution officials faced with disgruntled local residents : ..."lack of consensus should not be allowed to intimidate us into avoiding innovation" In other words, if the locals don't like it fine them until they grow to love the idea. Government by the people etc? As far as the EU and our current rulers are concerned, that's just a load of old garbage
