I lost interest in politics a long time ago. Hmm, that’s probably not entirely true. Better to say that I lost faith in the current system of politics a long time ago. If I had no interest at all, I wouldn’t still care about how fucked up everything is, would I?
We as a nation-state still seem to be fixated on some ancient perspective that says Conservatives are Right Wing, Labour is Left, and Liberals represent some wishy-washy centre-ground somewhere in between. But in truth, it seems to me that in our current age, both major parties are right of centre. There is no longer a real choice between “right” and “left” anymore. And even if there was, it would still be too linear. Like saying that everyone on the left would agree on broadly the same policies and general direction.
As I learnt a while ago, when a friend introduced me to the many varying online political ideology tests, just how many different flavours there are on both sides of the central divide, so many in fact that a single right/left axis is not sufficient, and that at least one further vertical axis needs to run alongside that horizontal one to more accurately reflect a wider range of views and ideologies. But how far do you take that, and where does it all stop before fragmenting into utter confusion?
The next issue for me, is the incredibly powerful influence of the corporate media (both print and broadcast) on people’s perception of politics. To the extent that the ‘coverage’ (if you can call it that) makes it inevitable that only one of two parties have any realistic chance of winning an election – and in recent times, a high likelihood that in order for one of them to do so, they will need the help of the not entirely impotent third party in order to actualy form a government.
The point, is choice – or rather, the lack of it. Sure, on the surface, there is choice, but when that “choice” is between two parties, neither of which have ever convinced that they are in any way capable of effectively, professionally, and honestly running a country for the good of the people – then what real choice is that?
I would suggest it is merely the illusion of choice, and that essentially – politics (the way it is currently set up), is simply a puppet show for grown-ups.
Which ever party “wins”, the same band of obscenely wealthy controlling “puppeteers” will be pulling the strings from behind the scenes. So is politics simply the method of distraction used to effectively “divide and conquer” us, whilst we argue amongst ourselves endlessly over which puppet on which hand is less bad than the other, all the while oblivious to the fact that ultimately, the same dude has his hand shoved up the arses of both of them?
Everyday that I open my curtains in the morning, feels like another step toward 1984.
So, is the entire political system utterly fucked, and flawed beyond redemption? If not, then why not? And if so, what, if anything, can we do about this monstrocity?