Will Thirteen Years of Misrule End on St George’s Day?
Western electorates are accustomed to periods of rule by centre-right governments, followed by periods of rule by centre-left governments – or vice versa. It seems that the excesses committed by one group have to be corrected by the succeeding group. The problem is that the ‘adjustments’ are usually only new excesses, but of the opposite extreme. Thus, in both cases the more apt word to describe government may be ‘misrule’ rather than ‘rule’.
For example, in the UK the 50s to the early 60s were dominated by the right-wing Conservative Party. The 60s and 70s were largely dominated by the left-wing Labour Party. The period from 1979 to 1997 was marked by the Conservative governments of Mrs Thatcher and Mr Major. And the period from 1997 to 2010 has been marked by the governments of Mr Blair and Mr Brown. Though officially belonging to the left-wing Labour Party, they have been extremely anti-libertarian in their politics and have even been mocked as ‘Stalinists’.
After the UK electoral system had allowed the excesses of economic liberalism (‘Thatcherism’) and deregulation (‘the law of the jungle’ to its critics), it then allowed ‘New Labour’ to come to power. The electorate hoped for a Party which believed in society (unlike Mrs Thatcher who famously said ‘there’s no such thing as society’) and would promote social and economic justice and a better healthcare system. Mr Blair and his ideologues promised ‘The Third Way’. Supposedly, this would be the best of both worlds. In other words, this would be a combination of continuing economic competence together with social and economic justice.
In reality, it often turned out to be economic incompetence, with overspending, rocketing debt, a banking crisis and national bankruptcy. This was exactly as predicted by the common-sense majority, whose voices were never listened to by a government which only ever listened to itself. Combined with this there was social and economic injustice, mass student indebtedness, rampant alcoholism and drug-taking. All this was funded by a cash-poor healthcare system, which is good only at emergency medicine, and a highly bureaucratic, massively wasteful ‘nanny State’.
Typified by a total lack of trust of its citizens, this was obsessed with ‘inspection regimes’, ‘monitoring’, a culture of Soviet-style ‘target-setting, ‘political correctness’, ‘health and safety’ and over four million public surveillance cameras. It drastically limited personal freedom, even threatening to bring in universal biometric identity cards in order to monitor its citizens ever more closely. Thus the Calvinist nightmare of a Scottish Labour Party brought in the Blair dictatorship of the new Cromwellian Republican England.
However, the meddling was confined not only to spying on its own citizens and interfering in their personal lives, it also meant meddling in the affairs of other countries as true busybody puritans do. The first country to be bombed and invaded was Serbia. This was followed by invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq with their mythical weapons (‘mass distraction’) and imaginary enemies of paranoid minds which wanted absolute power.
In each State where ‘New Labour’ meddled, it naturally created bloodshed, outrage and anarchy. It also bled the UK Armed Forces and further helped to bankrupt the national economy. Indeed, Mr Blair has actually been threatened with a civil action for war crimes. Blair’s wars, as they are called, seem to have been a mixture of narcissistic naivety, bordering on stupidity, and meddling hubris. They are international tragedies. Overall, the ‘Third Way’ combined the worst of US deregulation and the worst of EU social collectivism. If the UK had instead adopted the best of US economic freedom and the best of EU social care, then its rule would have been remembered with fondness instead of with shame. Thanks to ‘New Labour’, independent UK foreign policy was betrayed to US interests and independent UK domestic policy was betrayed to EU interests.
Thus, the UK government was detested abroad for its slavery to US Imperialism and detested at home for its slavery to EU Imperialism. It did not cultivate friendly relations with American citizens, to whom we feel close, or cultivate respect for the best of European culture, to which we also feel close, keeping our independence and freedom to live as we wish. Instead, thirteen years of Labour misrule provided us not with a Third Way, but with no way at all - the worst of both worlds.
It would be good if we could think that things will be better under a possible, but by no means certain, Conservative government. This remains extremely doubtful given last year’s MPs’ expenses scandal, which in the public’s eyes more or less criminalised many MPs of all political parties. Moreover, the Conservative leader, a PR executive or media manipulator, appears to promise one thing, but then does the opposite. Indeed, he appears to be a clone of Mr Blair, though, ironically, perhaps less right-wing. The very real danger is then that the UK now faces another thirteen years of misrule, all image and no substance, a period of unprincipled rule by yet another ruler who only swims with the tide.
But we should not end on a negative note. We also know that there are honest MPs who look after their constituencies. We also know that there are many sincere ‘little people’, often in lowly positions, who are simply trying to do their best, despite political corruption and ingrained lying. And, above all, we also know that though man proposes, it is God Who disposes. Let them do their worst. Though we may lose many battles in the short term, we shall still win the war in the long term. And we have not forgotten that for us the election falls on St George’s Day. Let the dragons fear. Perhaps, at last, the people will speak.
17 April 2010
