The State of Politics: Wigs & Wankers In Equal Measure
MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland
Just as I was about to give up writing about politics and politicians, things have begun to get interesting.
There is a noticeable change in how people see politicians and how they think about those who are elected to represent the their views in parliament.
The Labour Party here in Britain is on the verge of extinction, mainly due to the malign influence of Tony Blair and New Labour. They completely betrayed the founding principles of the party set up to represent the working class. This was done in order to get elected, gain power and ultimately line their own pockets.
They sucked up to big business and the sinister regime of George W Bush. Not caring in the slightest about the long term good, but of short term gain for themselves and their cronies.
There has always been a “tradition” of ex politicians getting plum positions in multi national companies, to use their influence and contacts to the company’s advantage. This is clearly a conflict of interest, but no one seems to care!
Of course we know what kind of hell was visited upon Iraq and Afghanistan by Tony Blair’s slavish following of George W Bush. Now we know why! Tony Blair is raking in millions of pounds every year on the back of his shameless conduct in the destruction of several countries. He is a disgusting example of the modern politician. There is a noticeable feeling among the public that this cannot be allowed to continue.
There is a strange air around politics in the UK and the USA at the moment. The public are showing signs which all politicians hate…they are beginning to think for themselves!
The financial disasters of the last five to ten years have been seen to have been caused by sheer naked greed on the part of the financial institutions which we all have to rely upon to function on a daily basis. The fact that politicians were complicit in these matters, makes people wonder if anyone in power can be trusted.
Because the establishment bands together to protect its own, it has been difficult to get to the truth. Inquiries will be whitewashed and the old clichés will be trotted out…”lessons will be learned”, etcetera.
No, no one will face justice over the follies of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. No one, except the occasional scapegoat, will have to stand trial for the financial shambles which has destroyed all trust in banking worldwide!
These are some of the reasons why the public are at last waking up to the possibility of having huge political change.
In America Donald Trump is hugely popular right now because he says what people think. Regardless of the left or right of his opinions, it’s refreshing to see career politicians panicked into virtual silence because someone is telling it like it is. I don’t hold with his extreme views, but I hold with his disruption of the political elite and the cosy status quo.
The line-up for the Republican presidential nomination is like a mixture of waxworks and and the living
dead. Trump stands out because he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, or whatever he has under the bouffant wig.
Because he is independently wealthy, he doesn’t have to follow the rules. If his poll ratings keep rising, he risks actually becoming president! Then what? A refreshing change or total disaster?
Who knows.
I do wonder what might happen if he looks like he’ll be winning the nomination. Would the establishment allow this to go all the way or would they do something to stop it from happening?
We the public don’t have the luxury of being independently rich, but we can register our opprobrium at the disgusting behaviour of bankers and corporate ass kissers who keep our politicians in jobs and money!
In the UK, we now have a similar panic among career politicians. Well, in the Labour party at least. After the debacle of the last General Election, Ed Miliband resigned as leader of the Labour party. This was no surprise, as he has all the charisma of a dead tree. He had trouble eating a bacon sandwich, so being Prime Minister would have been a step too far.
There is now a protracted leadership contest, featuring three people who actually imagine the public will at the next election, vote to make them Prime Minister and one who was only put in to bring a more open debate to the borefest!
It’s difficult not to fall over laughing at the preposterous assumption that any of them are electable.
There are four candidates for the post of Labour party leader. Two female and two male. Three of the candidates could be interchangeable and despite being of different sexes, no one would notice the difference!
The fourth candidate is radically different…. He was backed by the required number of members of parliament to stand in the contest almost as a joke, but the joke has backfired dramatically.
Jeremy Corbyn is a sixty-six year old radical left wing MP. He’s been in parliament for over thirty years and has never changed his political views. He has the added excitement of a man of conviction. Almost unknown in any modern career politician, conviction is usually after a high court trial.
He has had a very low profile career, which is obviously to his advantage. No political skeletons to fall out of his closet.
He appeals to traditional Labour party voters who have been sickened by the Tony Blair/ Alistair Campbell lies and deceit. Taking the country into at least one illegal war at a huge cost to soldiers and innocent civilians. Two of the other three candidates are still tainted by association with the Blair/Brown years. Andy Burnham is a pathetic flip flopping milksop who is prepared to say and do anything to get votes.
Yvette Cooper is the wife of the ex MP and shadow chancellor, Ed Balls. A loud mouthed bully who was Gordon Brown’s bag carrier and general arse licker!
This is not to Ms Cooper’s advantage.
The third candidate is so anonymous, I have no knowledge of her name or political history, other than she is Tony Blair’s preferred candidate!
This is not just a minor hiccup in British politics. It’s the public rejection of the political status quo. Because in the recent past, there has been very little difference between the New Labour party project and the Conservative party. The traditional Labour working class voter has been marginalised and their views ignored for far too long. This is why the establishment is confused, angry and desperate to snuff out Corbyn’s challenge.
The reason the Labour party in Scotland was decimated by the SNP in the last General Election, was that their traditional voter snubbed them, because they didn’t represent their own views.
But the SNP should be worried because Jeremy Corbyn is exactly the kind of left wing politician the Scottish Labour voter has always elected to parliament. He is currently talking to big audiences throughout Scotland as he looks for votes in the leadership contest.
This takes me back to Donald Trump and what he’s doing in America. Despite being demonised by the political and media establishment, he is miles ahead in the opinion polls.
He’s appealing directly to the public who feel they have been betrayed by every politician in Washington. Plastic wind up Senators who jump when their big business masters issue orders. This has been going on for years and at last the public are finally waking up to the possibility of having a politician who isn’t in the pocket of the corporate puppet masters!
I personally don’t know if Donald Trump or his wig can become President of the USA, but he can provide entertainment as this long electoral contest winds its way to November 2016.
Meanwhile over here, we have to see if a traditional Labour politician can become the party leader and ruffle some establishment feathers!
Here in Scotland, we have elections to the Scottish Parliament next year. So all in all, 2016 is going to very interesting for many reasons.
If Jeremy Corbyn becomes the leader of the national Labour party, he may bring disaffected voters back into the Labour party fold and give the SNP a run for their money.
As I said, interesting times!
ALSO BY MJ BLAIR
Doomed or Idyllic: Scottish independence debate caught between rabid utterings from opposite camps
State spying in the name of terrorism
Surveillance society: one nation under CCTV
Michael J Blair contributes political analysis to DDA, and he can be reached at: michaelblair43@googlemail.com. His Twitter handle is: @mmjblair
[Trump photo from Gage Skidmore; Blair blood photo from Vertigogen; 2016 GOP clown town caricature by DonkeyHotey]
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