It seems that Labour is spending their conference trying to get us to trust them again in all policy areas, most of all the economy. But was it all their fault? Can we truly trust anyone else in the political world? Or is distrust just the name-of-the-game in modern politics?
Our economy seems to have ground to halt, which looks like the Tories 'Plan A' not working, but bumping along the bottom is surely better then the recession which happened on Labour's watch. But was a world recession which has caused so much havoc on an international level the fault of the government of a small island floating off the edge of Europe?
Clash of The Titans!
Labour Vs Conservatives, an age old battle but who can we trust? It is true that Labour failed to regulate the banks and they were delusional thinking boom and bust capitalism was over but the world did the same, it was the failure of many governments, thousands of people and would the Tories have really been any different, I doubt it. This also rings true with defense the Iraq war was a disaster, built on dodgy dossiers and false accusations but would the Tories really have stood up to Bush and is bloodlust, they voted for the war after all.
So do the 'policies-in-progress' which have been offered to us this week restore Labour to 1997, I think not. However, many people are far too quick to jump to the Tories, just because Labour failed does not mean the Conservatives are suddenly perfect. Firstly, ideologically they oppose Labour which is only becoming apparent with the carve up of the welfare state that we are seeing now. Secondly, they were not the perfect opposition, they did not question many of the things they now complain about. I didn't see David Cameron waving a massive banner saying 'Cut the Deficit' or 'Regulate the Banks'.
Who Can We Trust?
The Liberal Democrats? They have done more then enough to show that they do not stand up for their beliefs. I understand that they are in a coalition but Clegg's announcement at the Lib Dem conference that you "do not play politics with the economy" is paradoxical. The management of the economy is the job of politicians and a very political act. Compromises are necessary but going against everything the Liberals stand for in relation to government funding for universities, hospitals and schools to get in return the rise of the threshold for income tax to £10,000 is ludicrous, that isn't a compromise, its selling out!
It seems that all of the three major parties are discredited, but then they have always done something wrong. Churchill won the biggest war the world had ever seen but the British public still decided he wasn't good enough for them. So maybe we just have to deal with the mistakes politicians and parties make and go with whoever seems best at the time. Or is there another way? What if we all choose another party, the Green party are on the rise, one seat was all Labour started with and look at them now.
You can never fully trust anyone, power exacerbates every mistake, each decision matters and some are life threatening. I think the last election results show that no one truly believes anyone who wants power and everyone questions politicians, and so we should, but it does mean we live in a world where we are forever skeptical of the people that lead us, which seems unfortunate.
No comments:
Post a Comment