Dichotomies of Life

I am not a political animal in the accepted sense but the recent referendum and general election have centered my mind on the whole democratic process.

Now at this time i accept i am looking back through the wrong end of the age telescope and the values i was brought up with have changed along with the decades. Not all for the better. well, not in my opinion at least.

This isn't a pontification of what i think is wrong. Quite the reverse actually. It's rather a public forum where i indulge myself by relating a number of situations and trying to come to a reasonable determination of what is right or fair.

Regarding the referendum.

We had every senior party apparatchik from all the colour hues tell us/ frighten us into voting the way they thought best. Constant berating and endless justifying figures engulfed us, which in due course were proven to be, basically lies. Or probably, more like, they didn't really know. But it suited their various political aims.

Whether it be the £350 million that was going to the EEC reverting to the NHS or the numbers in the immigration issue, everything was fair game to be distorted for that Parties use. Furthermore, the level of denigration and backstabbing of various competing ministers was shabby and deeply troubling.

Now, this wasn't just one person or one party. They ALL engaged in blatant deception.

It left me feeling that there was no political leader or minister that i trusted.

Then we have the "snap" election.

Theresa May saw an opportunity [ she thought] to annihilate the Labour Party in early June. It seemed at the outset that was probably going to happen, given the poor ratings of both leader and party.

Then of course the blunders came. The grossly underprepared scheme labelled the "Dementia Tax", which caused more confusion and harm than anything else; Theresa May's less than engaging personality [as a person of the people] in public and the failure for her to discuss in open forums with other parties.

To add tinder and fuel to the now rampaging fires of dissention came the surprising and extraordinary policy addition by Labour of giving free university education, immediately.

And so it went on.

The choice then appeared to be sure and steady or you can have just about what you desire, to put it into its most simplistic sense, that the majority of the electorate would take on board.

I guess that it isn't difficult to decide, given the human condition of being only concerned with what they will derive personally from any situation, that Labour's

Trump like, main course menu became rather appealing and the dessert of 30 hours of free child care almost lip smacking.

Now the rub.

At present the country's National Debt stands IRO £1.75 TRILLION and ever expanding. That is virtually the annual National Gross Product of the UK.

So, we can have free university fees, endless free child care, no bedroom tax, reduced VAT, cheap mortgages subsidised by government, all the police and fireman we need et al.

All we need to do is continue to spend more than we make and keep borrowing.

But, as we borrow and increasing the huge debt, the rate at which we borrow will rise as we will be seen as a bad risk. Which in turn exacerbates the debt in an ever upward spiral.

I am really not sure where our priorities lie. Most of us are ill equipped through lack of the complex knowledge required to make a descion about the multitude of deserving projects and people. For every child care requirement there is a need for "council" housing. For every new hospital there is the great need for, well, almost anything you can think of.

Everything has to be earned.

This is the point where we should be relying on our MP's and senior political leaders, the professionals, to lead us.

But they have now largely been exposed as untrustworthy and dilettantes. So now what?

This is the point where democracy becomes endangered. Sure, on this occasion 67% of the electorate bothered to cast their option but as our leaders become less trustworthy that figure will ebb away in a an ocean of disinterest and apathy.

That begets weak government and the breakdown of fiscal planning, ending up in the financial mess that Greece has found themselves. with frozen bank accounts, and delayed salaries and pensions.

Then the choice will be whether the country can afford to feed itself this week and not how many free child care hours we can get or how many "council" houses we can build.

Now, that is truly frightening.

Any comments ?