Beyond the Satire

 

Fcuked at Birth?

 

 

Recent events at the Capitol in Washington demonstrate the fragility of democracy; how the actions of a deluded individual can effectively give permission to shadowy groups and other deluded citizens to take matters into their own hands and seek to overturn a legally elected government.

However, it is also right to acknowledge that for many years inequality of opportunity and a widening gap between rich and poor has led to unease and a sense of alienation many people have felt from the political system, its form of representation and any sense of commitment to what might be called society. This sense of worthlessness and hopelessness might best be described by words scrawled on the wall of a shack in California, ‘Fcuked at Birth’.

It would be easy to laugh at what is happening in America and to believe it couldn’t happen here; if so, think again. There are many people in this country for which the phrase ‘Fcuked at Birth’ is entirely apposite. Let’s be honest, throughout our history there have been those who hold power through birth or wealth and those whose role has been to labour for and defer to those in power.

With the advent of the Labour Party in the 20^th century there was, at last, a vehicle for those who had been oppressed and ignored, to have a voice. Yet, increasingly and certainly since the radicalism of the Attlee government, those who need a voice have been ignored and/or taken for granted. Indeed, the dismantling of our industrial base during the Thatcher period has undermined any sense of shared experience and strength of community values. All that has replaced this wasteland of belonging and mutuality has been poorly paid insecure service work in dark unforgiving warehouses or, in fact, nothing at all.

Thus far we have avoided a full blown insurrection and while it is true that the House of Commons was “invaded” in the recent past, it was by twelve people in the public gallery appearing near naked and pressing their buttocks against the security glass, all in support of saving the environment! Whilst this might be seen as ‘typically British’ we must not be complacent. Fortunately we do not have a Prime Minister as deranged and psychologically damaged as Donald J Trump. However, there is no doubt that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson not only has a grandiose name, he also exhibits some of the grandiosity that we see in Trump; in his case though, he also has a powerful desire to be liked and overall Johnson’s pathology might best be described as the ‘sad clown’ variety.

Johnson’s track record as Prime Minister also differs from Trump’s in that he is not overtly attempting to cling to power, nor seeking to incite others to violence. His behaviour might best be seen through the prism of Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army. Throughout the pandemic, Johnson’s need to be liked has been demonstrated by the fact that in attempting to please people his responses to the pandemic have always been behind the curve. The consequence of Corporal Jones behaviour was that the platoon merely looked a little shabby. The consequence of Johnson’s unwillingness to act in timely fashion has led to a far worse loss of life and deleterious effect on the economy that might otherwise have been the case.

So, here we are, the Covid pandemic laying the country low, Brexit laying the country lower and a dilettante chancer as Prime Minister. As a nation we have, albeit often grudgingly and unenthusiastically, given succour to a political system that takes voters for granted and, irrespective of Party, has pursued a neo liberal capitalist system that ignores the plight of ordinary people. There is every likelihood this will continue for the foreseeable future when what is needed is a root and branch challenge to this orthodoxy equivalent to the upheaval engendered by the Beveridge Report of 1944.

What can be done?

- Move to single transferable vote – see Clemantics 4^th May 2020 ‘To Referendum or not to Referendum, is that the question?

- Enhance the quality of education for all through reduction of class sizes and increased funding?

- An actual rather than aspirational house building programme led by Local Authorities rather than developers?

- A basic Universal Income sufficient to free people from the tyranny of wage slavery?

Any other suggestions gratefully received…

A baby boomer, NFA (No Fixed Attitude) and, unlike many others, not Fcuked at Birth.