Weve joined Alice through the
looking glass. The UK has just voted to leave the EU on the basis that it
doesnt like remote, unaccountable government and politicians telling them
what to do, from afar.
Thats fair enough. Making that
decision is what democracy is all about but lets stop and think about how
this result was delivered. There are those who will argue that this was the
will of the people made manifest. That this was decent people
taking their country back again.
Which is interesting in itself because
when someone demands their country back, the obvious question is, from whom are
they demanding it back?
What is more interesting is that the
very people who were arguing that remote government is a bad thing
(think Sturgeon and Salmond) are the very people who are arguing that an even
more remote government (the EU) is a good thing.
And then we have the key elements of the
Westminster establishment, who told us that it was better to be together, that
independence for Scotland was a mistake, that it was better to be part of a
greater whole (Johnson and Gove), have told us that we need to fight to regain
our sovereignty. That we can make it on our own.
The result of both of these referendums
is irrelevant. What is really apparent and which nobody seems to be that
bothered about is that these politicians, of all hues and persuasions, have
exposed themselves for what they really are. Self serving individuals who will
do and say what is necessary to justify their own means.
When they say they believe in
independence, they are lying. When they say they believe in sovereignty, they
are lying. When they say that they are fighting for, speaking for and working
for the common man and woman, they are lying.
They are always lying because they are
politicians. And we give them the influence they think they deserve. We do that
because we are used to being guided by the governing classes. We are used to
looking up to a leader, a leader who will fix this broken country
of ours, a leader who will fix our dissatisfaction.
But of course that leader doesn't exist.
That doesnt mean wont still look for them. That we wont look
for that person for guidance. That person who will keep us strong and valid and
meaningful.
That person who we will vote in to fix
the minutiae of our lives. That person who will salve our unidentifiable
wounds. That person who will confirm our hope in ourselves.
And who can blame us for wanting that?
Its natural to want something better and god knows most of us hold a
lifetime of shit in our hands. And what we have been given, not just today but
for as long as I can remember, is a handful of shit.
Today people voted against that handful
of shit. But theyve simply swapped one type of shit for another, They are
still being manipulated, coerced and led down a dark path. They think, as we
all do, that we are participating in a democracy.
That is an illusion. It is an illusion
that is dangerous for us, for the state and for the future. Politicians have
reached peak fuck you and our people will notice it one day. Soon.
It will never be too late but sometimes,
like today, it feels like it might just be.