Government & Public Opinion - Political Nostalgia

Government & Public Opinion

Originally published on my Blog in January 2014 – About 400 words

Can any government every really give the public what it wants and would that even be desirable?

Various TV & Radio programmes have had a stab at public opinion politics and the results tend to be both scary and impossible to achieve. Everyone it seems wants to pay a lot less tax, but have far better services!

We’d definitely see a return of capital punishment, which would get us kicked out of the EU and our borders would look like the old Berlin wall, to control those pesky immigrants. It’s this kind of public opinion that Farage appeals to, the worst side of all of us.

There is no use burying our heads in the sand about this, we have to accept that real time democracy where every decision was by referendum, would be a hell on earth.

This is of course why our current Tory government only use public opinion when it validates their own ideas.

Welfare reform – We’re told a huge majority want it.

Immigration controls – We’re told a huge majority want it.

Welfare reform saves the chancellor money, which he can use for tax cuts and other bribes for the next general election. Then of course there are the weapons for the wars our politicians seem so fond of.

Immigration control appeals to something darker in the Tory psyche. Scratch a Tory and you’ll find Enoch Powell!

GM Foods – The government seem very keen.

Funnily enough less than a third of the population are convinced it’s safe. That seems to be ignored because there is money to be made, by the sort of people who lobby and financially back political parties.

Fracking – Cameron has inferred it’s unpatriotic to object to it.

The nation is split 50/50 on this, with most opposition in the areas most likely to be fracked. Hardly a ringing endorsement, but there is a lot of money to be made from it, again by the sort of people who lobby and donate to political parties.

Then there is the tax revenue. Thatcher was saved by North Sea oil tax revenue and Cameron must be desperately hoping fracking brings in taxes he can use to bribe the public.

So if you want to use public opinion to support your cause, it will only work if it validates the government position and completely ignored if it doesn’t.

© Ed Cowling   ~  January 2014