The Death of Democracy

I just watched an extremely cynical but enlightening documentary on Channel 4 about the May 5th election coming up here in the UK. It was called "Why Politicians Can't Tell the Truth" and reported by Peter Oborne. His thesis (at least, as I understood it) was that the 3 major political parties (Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal-Democrats) have become an amporphous blob who pretty much all stand for the same things. Naturally, there are some subtle differences between them, but in terms of how the country will actually be run, their campaign policies are all basically identical. The reason for this, he postulates, is because they're all focussed on capturing the votes of 'swing voters' - middle-class brits who haven't yet made up their mind - because they're the ones who actually decide the election. Ideology and representation be damned, it all comes down to the bottom line; in this case, pleasing those folks with a mortgage and 2.5 kids.

And he makes a good point, it's an awful position to be in. They all say the same positive things (more cops on the street, more health care, less taxes) and refuse to tackle difficult issues (the example he used was how despite the fact that aviation is quickly becoming the #1 emitter of greenhouse gases, no one will oppose the expansion of Stansted airport and tax breaks for airlines so they can provide cheap airfare...again, because it would be unpopular with the middle class swing voters).

The program ended with him trying to track down Tony Blair on the campaign trail, seeing as no one at the labour office would tell the reporter where his next press conference was going to be held. Granted, he was a bit of a trouble-maker, and did ask some rather sassy questions, but what good is a democracy if you can't question authority? One of the very last segments of the program showed the police arresting a 16 year old girl for throwing ONE egg at Tony Blair's bus. Man, democracy really is dead.

Ok, so the question is then, what the hell do we do about it? It's all well and good to be depressed that the richest nations in the world are ruled by their richest members, and that we can't ask difficult questions or protest this situation, but how do we change it? I'd love to become an inspiring, motivational politician for 'my generation' but I really just don't see it happening. The problem is not the people in the system, but the system itself. Democratic Capitalism (or at least, today's mutant incarnation thereof) needs a serious assessment and overhaul. Thankfully there are already many people who are skeptical and questioning, but the problem again is that these aren't the folks with any power. The other half of the problem lies with the youth, many of whom feel like i do (powerless and frustrated) and so rather than worry about doing anything to make a positive change, become hedonistic, materialistic, apathetic and ultimately nihilistic. Their ethos is that since they can't change anything, they might as well make the most out of what they've got. And I understand where they're coming from, and to a certain extent I can't blame them, yet on the other hand, I refuse to be complacent about injustice on any level. Grrr...

So that's a lot of theoretical mumbo-jumbo, without much pro-active advice, but the fact is that I just don't know what to do yet. It comes back to the micro/macro divide. Should I devote my life to helping individuals I see on the streets, or seriously lobbying international bodies like the UN, WTO, IMF, etc. to make massive global differences. I think I tend to lean toward the former, if only because of my previously mentioned distrust in the current political structures of this planet.

I'm winding myself up here, I need to go for a walk and cool down.