A parliamentary inquiry into the BREXIT referendum concludes that urgent action is needed to combat ‘relentless targeting of hyper-partisan views’; well that’s good news. More importantly they come up with a set of recommendations to safe guard our electoral system which is encouraging though they are missing some root issues and deal only with symptoms not the causes while patching the side-effects rather than curing them. To be specific as I mentioned on plenty of posts on this site – if you care to search term “lobbyist” – one of the root causes is the open season for special interest groups/individuals & political lobbyists which normalise illegal influence (internal & external) on our political structures.
What is also missing from this review is an assessment of the legitimacy of the BREXIT referendum – a key referendum that is about shaping our future of generations. And by the way, when speaking of legitimacy it is not only about meddling & political influence but also about guidelines for conducting a referendum to ensure their is a clear vision/mandate that is at the end of the process – one that is based on facts NOT disinformation – while allowing a level playing field for all views through transparent/ well structured debates. I repeat; Elections & Referendums are the corner stones for our Democracy and protecting them should not only be about protection from influence but also about ensuring they are viable/effective mechanisms in the way they are run and the results they produce. So back to the BREXIT referendum legitimacy issue it is a “legitimate” question to ask why – knowing what we know from this & previous reviews – the referendum results are to hold? This brings me swiftly to my final point/questions;
We seem to using the term “Democracy” to reflect Values/Aspirations but things become murky when action is involved, particularly where there are political implications; in other words rather the “Democracy” driving “Politics” the reverse is what’s actually happening, and that’s exactly the “Show” that’s going on. Another act in this farce is a Prime Minister running her own show that affects us all under the pretence of Democracy while knowing full well she no longer has the necessary legitimacy to rule. Is this how it really works because remember political positions change but a corrosive system continues so we’re all affected by it – or in this case infected by it? Is this the evolution of Democracy? That’s the best we can do? And finally who’s actually winning in all of this? mmmm…..let’s all think about all this at tea time!
PS: It’s NOT just Facebook/Social Media that need a fix!
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