Rowenna Davis

Because politics happens beyond Westminster

The case against being "anti-politics"

A system with fewer people voting is often in the interests of the politicians you’re supposed to ha

By Rowenna Davis Published 03 May 2012 8:06

Politics is not a dirty word. But sometimes it feels like politicians are competing over who can spurn their vocation most. "We’re corrupt! Elite! Insular!" they shout. The concept of the “Westminster bubble” must be the most popular phrase in Portcullis. Anti-politics is the only platform we dare to stand on. We’ve all done it. But it’s too easy. And it sounds false coming from those who remain in the system precisely because they still believe in it. On polling day, we realise that pandering to disillusionment is in danger of justifying voter apathy. It’s time for a defence of politics.

Blanket attacks on the system are patronising. They let people get away with an abdication of responsibility. The underlying premise seems to be that politics is completely divorced from the actions of ordinary people, and that this problem is purely for politicians to fix. The voter, in essence, is a kind of consumer that is being let down by "Government Inc." If they could just provide a better service, everything would be okay. But the truth is that if politics isn’t working, people have a duty to intervene. Yes, our politicians have let us down, but so have those who don’t do anything about it. At the last election, some two thirds of people didn’t show up to vote. Without trying to change the system in other ways, that's complicity in wrongdoing. They’re free-riding on citizens that do bother. They deserve a bit less pity and a bit more anger.

None of this is to excuse politicians from keeping their side of the bargain. Anyone who knows my work knows I am fully capable of mounting my high horse when there’s a problem. Expenses, Murdoch, cash for influence: politicians have let us down. The voting system doesn’t answer our preferences or offer meaningful power between elections. The City rules. But people have a responsibility too. If you don’t like the way a party is going, join it and change it. If you don’t feel represented by anyone, stand independent or encourage someone else to. If you don’t like mainstream politics, try changing it in other ways. Yes there are obstacles here too, but how many people who criticise have actually tried?

“Politicians should challenge people to be better as well as themselves”, says Arnie Graf, co-director of the Industrial Areas Foundation which promotes community organising in the US, who has been working closely with Ed Miliband, “One of the reasons for the breakdown of politics is that people don’t do enough to make sure they’re given what they’re promised, and politicians don’t do enough to challenge citizens. We treat them like customers in focus groups rather than people to work with.”

I first fell in love with politics because it offered power and participation. It meant fighting a campaign in our school for healthier canteen meals and getting our photo in the local press. It meant collaring Ken Livingstone on the tube and asking him why we hadn’t got that skate park. It meant daring to explain why you ate Fairtrade chocolate. It meant arguments. It meant boring meetings. It meant influence. It wasn’t them; it was us, and we got more done because of it. Yes, some people are brought up with more political education than others, but at some point people have to take responsibility.

If my impression of politics is a little romantic, I’m glad I’ve managed to hold on to that. But more sceptical voters may be convinced by a more cynical argument. A system with fewer people voting is often in the interests of the politicians you’re supposed to hate. With such a small electoral base, parties can spot the swing voters and treat winning like a science. Elections become predictable, calculated and easier to stitch up. A large, unwieldy and active electorate is harder to control. So don’t think about skipping the polls today. If you keep your half of the bargain, politicians are more likely to keep theirs.

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Tags: Local elections 2012

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37 comments

Thu, 2012-07-26 17:40 — jgwtlbla (not verified)

ugzadz

Wed, 2012-07-18 19:24 — zlvrehw (not verified)

gazwcbg

Tue, 2012-07-10 05:18 — xqqozd (not verified)

hxuvut

Sun, 2012-06-17 22:11 — Herbert (not verified)

Oh, say the political journalists, if the racket didn't exist what would we have to write about?

Fri, 2012-06-22 22:48 — منتديات (not verified)

http://www.cafe-hbal.com/vb/

Thu, 2012-05-24 14:35 — hugh markey (not verified)

A BBC Radio Four interview circa 1954. Male coming out of Whites asked to comment on some current political event responded: "I'm not interested in politics, I just vote Conservative."
In the forties and fifties we recall hearing many salt of the earth working class men and women decaring views which would not have gone amiss if uttered in a gentleman's club such as Whites.
Racial prejudice, the British Empire, hanging and flogging way up there. And the income tax was too high.
However, this was before the recreational media got into its stride. These working-class Tories may have held these views but they hadn't been so brainwashed that they ignored their own economic interest.
Now we are up against the Puerto Rican philosophy. Elderly man on deathbed afeared of voting Socialist in case he wins the Lotto/Numbers for which he has purchased a ticket.
Just look at all the excuses there are now. Rock, Reality TV, the X-Factor, the Voice are a few of the enticements but they exercise nothing like the gravitational pull of the internet and its addictive social networks, Facebook and Twitter.
No wonder the electorate is dwindling.
And the Tories mantra - 'All politicians are the same!' Yet the competition to be a Tory MP has never been sharper.
Many give up salaries and benefits that dwarf the stingy MP's wage! Suspicious, yeah?
Virtual reality rules! Unfortunately.

Say Anything

Fri, 2012-05-11 16:47 — fredfox (not verified)

UK election turnout 33%

Result - Cameron and Co state they hear what the people are saying BUT will not alter the path they going down.

French election turnout>70%

Result - French get rid of unpopular and disliked president.

The British are the best whiners and moaners on the planet and also the most apathetic when the opportunity to do something arises.

Thu, 2012-05-10 15:12 — Sciamachy

Rather than vote for one or other faction of the Business Party, who never bother about what you want once they feel they have a rubber stamp mandate from < 33% of the electorate, spoil your ballot instead. Don't vote, but don't abstain either. Spoiled ballots are counted. When the deliberately spoiled ballots > the number of votes cast, it will show the Business Party exactly what the people think of them.

Sun, 2012-06-17 22:09 — Herbert (not verified)

Exactly - Abstain in Person.

Tue, 2012-05-08 14:47 — Will Hinch (not verified)

Read and follow my blog for some weekly irreverent nonsense!

http://hinchysweeklywaffle.blogspot.co.uk/

Sat, 2012-05-05 20:04 — Robert Taggart

RD - you are sooooo political !

Sat, 2012-05-05 00:45 — Fraziel1

Politicians are lying self serving greedy scum bags. Without exception. Seems a pretty good reason to be anti politics. Trust a politician to say otherwise.

Thu, 2012-05-24 14:09 — Barrie J (not verified)

Absolutely right.
When expressing similar opinions, both here and elsewhere I have frequently been accused of being a cynic.
Well to quote:
CYN-IC
a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.

How could any politician's actions be viewed otherwise?
They have proved themselves to be utterly worthless, lying, self serving parasites.
I was a member of a political party and a trade union and yes they are every bit as bad up close as they appear to be.
People don't vote because there is no alternative, the politicians are so scared of this that in the Representation of the People Act (2006?), Blair made it an offence to stand in an election as 'None of the Above'.
I think we can all guess why, or would that be cynical?

Fri, 2012-05-04 16:43 — Tesco Shelf Stacker (not verified)

So Labour celebrate victory for getting 39% of the overall vote. Wow! Is 39% of a 32% turnout really something to be shouting about? Less than a third of the electorate turned out to vote - how low does turnout for elections have to go before we concede that the UK is no longer a thriving democracy anymore? 25%? 10%? 5%?

Perhaps we should declare any election as null and void if turnout is lower than 50%?

I dunno? Something is seriously wrong me thinks? I mean what does this say about the state of politics in the UK today?

Fri, 2012-05-04 08:16 — Tesco Shelf Stacker (not verified)

I had only two choices on my ballot paper - Conservative or Labour ... it was like trying to decide between shopping at Asda or Tesco?

Very little difference between them to be honest.

Fri, 2012-05-04 06:26 — marimo (not verified)

I am (or was) a relatively young voter. I voted at the last general election and in the election before that for the Lib-Dems. I couldn't with good conscience vote for Labour given their enthusiasm for warmongering, privatisation, an unfettered free market and attacks on civil liberty and I doubt I will even find much appeal in the Tories. I felt so betrayed by the Lib-Dems this election that I decided not to vote at all. I suppose I might consider voting for the Green Party (assuming they even put forward a candidate in my ward) but why bother when they don't have a prayer under our FPTP system? It is obvious to me that the whole system needs a democratic overhaul. It has changed little for generations. Who said our democracy was a finished project? Before we have a full and free debate on how to improve things, without the ugly vested interests that marred the A/V referendum, we will never have better politics.

Thu, 2012-05-03 23:45 — Tesco Shelf Stacker (not verified)

I agree with you - I think more people should vote.

GEORGE JAEN NATHAN –"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote."

However, I think we also have to accept that something is very wrong with the whole party political system. We have reached the point where our democracy is ceasing to be democratic anymore. I don't think non-voters are apathetic - more a crisis of confidence in the whole political process in the UK.

Thu, 2012-05-03 17:51 — andyg (not verified)

At the last election two thirds of the public took strike action.

Thu, 2012-05-03 17:51 — andyg (not verified)

At the last election two thirds of the public took strike action.

Thu, 2012-05-03 17:51 — andyg (not verified)

At the last election two thirds of the public took strike action.

Thu, 2012-05-03 13:39 — Euan McArthur (not verified)

Anti-politics, the criticism of polticians, the governmental form (FPTP, monarchy, unelected lords etc.), or short-term phenomenon (the peculiar accent on the power of multinational financial institutions and corporations today) is simply a means of eliding and ignoring the social determinations that mean that politics has no relevancy for the masses. If everyone went out and voted for for a far-left, far-right or staunchly environmentalist party this would not make a difference to how the country is governed, unless such voting was accompanied by direct action, or it was fundamentally in the interests of the ruling class to do so. History teaches us that we don't get "democracy" unless the security of capital is assured, and it is withdrawn when this security is threatened. So many millions of people have bought into falsities throughout history, liberals largely accept that, and the great falsity of our time is that "the people" is sovereign in a capitalist society. We have a duty to intervene, but elections and "participation" as you define it are simply means of rubber-stampting whatever the government is told to do. Just as feudalism and slavery rested on the large-scale consent and "participation" in various ways by its subjects, capitalism does too, and voting ultimately bars us from greater participation, and achieves little in the mean time.

Thu, 2012-05-03 13:31 — Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley (not verified)

"The voter, in essence, is a kind of consumer that is being let down by "Government Inc." If they could just provide a better service, everything would be okay."

But - in the eyes of the state and it's workers ( eg in schools or otherwise) ordinary members of the voting public, are not even classed as a kind of consumer, I've found. If we were classed as ordinary consumers in the eyes of " government inc," type set ups and associations - we should surely automatically and directly be given a proper receipt for all the transactions, including co-payments, paying for schoolmilk, trips, paying for extra services of any kind eg occasional school sports schemes provided by independent agencies.

One wonders if we should get a receipt for voting as well? After all, it's our own time and resources we spend traipsing down to vote. In fact what about proper acknowledgement in the form of a receipt for all the information we end up providing for research and training purposes over the telephone to " government inc." set ups?

I could go on, inevitably.

P.S We may of course share this message appropriately or as necessary and i don't expect a reply.

Thu, 2012-05-03 13:12 — Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley (not verified)

"At the last election, some two thirds of people didn’t show up to vote. Without trying to change the system in other ways, that's complicity in wrongdoing. They’re free-riding on citizens that do bother. They deserve a bit less pity and a bit more anger."

No there's nothing wrong or illegal in doing something else or even doing nothing at election times.We're free to do what we want in our private lives here in the UK.

Sat, 2012-05-05 13:13 — Kevin McNamara (not verified)

where did the author say that there was? just because you're free to do it, it doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do. your reply was hardly relevant to the quote.

Thu, 2012-05-03 13:04 — Bill23 (not verified)

And what would it cost Ms Davis's councillors and bureaucrats if planning was put in the hands of the Royal Institute of Town Planners?
Without this bunce many wouldn't bother to be part of this mostly redundant system. If the government was serious district and parish councils would close and libraries stay open.
Also one can blame the councils for the nonsense of political correctness which has replaced common sense, and turned this country into a joke.
How long before we slip to 8th?

Fri, 2012-05-04 07:49 — Bill23 (not verified)

So Ms Davis, for every person who supports you, there are two who think you and your type are little better than criminals.

Thu, 2012-05-03 11:07 — Barrie J (not verified)

"If my impression of politics is a little romantic, I’m glad I’ve managed to hold on to that. But more sceptical voters may be convinced by a more cynical argument".

My great grandparents worked to elect Keir Hardie to Parliament in 1900, as a family we remained politically engaged until Blair's second term. No more.
I have voted in every election local, national and European for the past 44 years and not once has my vote contributed to achieving any positive change.
The current FPTP system just legitimises politicians' mediocrity.
It would take a 1000 Hercules to clean out the Augean Stables of Westminster's incompetence, corruption and self service.

Thu, 2012-05-03 12:44 — Bill23 (not verified)

Alternatively we could all stop paying council tax. See landofthefree.co.uk.

Thu, 2012-05-03 10:57 — FeelinBlue (not verified)

'Do you vote?
I often do, without much enthusiasm. In the US, there is basically one party - the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population.'
Noam Chomsky - from this very issue of NS

Thu, 2012-05-03 10:49 — FeelinBlue (not verified)

'Expenses, Murdoch, cash for influence' are all very distasteful but you forgot to mention the downright criminal invasion of Iraq and subservience to banking and corporate interests.

A few years ago, I witnessed over a million people, who had bothered to get up off their arses, to engage with politics by marching through the streets of London against starting an illegal and immoral war. They were ignored by the politicians who were voted into office to represent them.

People are not stupid. They can see the links between the government and the finance sector, corporations, arms traders, etc,etc. They can see that most politicians have been bought and paid for and who are far more interested in their own careers and bank balances than serving the nation.

I respect that you might find all these things just as abhorrent as the rest of us but voting for more of the same is just a ridiculous proposition. Wouldn't it be much better if nobody voted? I'd love to see the blank bewildered faces of our corrupt leaders wandering around Westminster wondering what to do next as their ivory towers came crashing down around them.

I can dream can't I...........

Thu, 2012-05-03 10:22 — Bill23 (not verified)

Well your'e lucky we can't all be hunter gatherers; and now thanks to the banksters (and their friends) we will never know if true capitalism would have worked.