Democracy in Cumbria
In a post a few days ago, titled "The Canary in a coal mine" I wrote that the number of people involved in local politics is dangerously low in many parts of the country, that this is bad for the health of local democracy, and that one side effect of this is the potential for extremists of many kinds to have an impact out of all proportion to public support for the things they actually stand for.
Copeland is one of those areas.
I am concerned that what amounts to a vicious circle of apathy has taken hold. The original "canary in a coal mine" study which I was quoting documents how in all too many parts of Britain there are not enough people involved in some or all of the local political parties. E.g. they are short of enough workers to deliver leaflets and knock on doors to keep in touch with people and deliver a real local choice.
This in turn means that the shrinking minority who do get involved find it harder and harder to get round the constituency and communicate with and respond to the voters. Consequently the impression is created that the political parties are doing nothing and do not care. This makes people even more disillusioned, and so still fewer people get involved, and it is even harder to get things going.
There is no easy answer to this, though I do think that if those of us who are currently active in politics showed a bit more humility and willingness to listen it might be easier to persuade people that it is worth their while to get involved.
When I was a very young man I used to be highly idealistic about democracy. These days, while it still has my support, it is on the worldly-wise grounds once expressed by Winston Churchill. Asked what he thought of democracy he replied that it was the worst system there is - except, of course, for all the others.
Of course, we can never please everyone. Those to whom "listening" means "Do everything exactly as I want it" will inevitably end up believing that no politicians listen, because running any political body, from a council to a government requires compromise between competing interests. You can listen to both the applicant who wants a planning application approved, and the neighbours who want it refused but you cannot give both sides everything they want.
Democracy in Cumbria and Britain alike would be healthier if a larger number of people were involved.
Copeland is one of those areas.
I am concerned that what amounts to a vicious circle of apathy has taken hold. The original "canary in a coal mine" study which I was quoting documents how in all too many parts of Britain there are not enough people involved in some or all of the local political parties. E.g. they are short of enough workers to deliver leaflets and knock on doors to keep in touch with people and deliver a real local choice.
This in turn means that the shrinking minority who do get involved find it harder and harder to get round the constituency and communicate with and respond to the voters. Consequently the impression is created that the political parties are doing nothing and do not care. This makes people even more disillusioned, and so still fewer people get involved, and it is even harder to get things going.
There is no easy answer to this, though I do think that if those of us who are currently active in politics showed a bit more humility and willingness to listen it might be easier to persuade people that it is worth their while to get involved.
When I was a very young man I used to be highly idealistic about democracy. These days, while it still has my support, it is on the worldly-wise grounds once expressed by Winston Churchill. Asked what he thought of democracy he replied that it was the worst system there is - except, of course, for all the others.
Of course, we can never please everyone. Those to whom "listening" means "Do everything exactly as I want it" will inevitably end up believing that no politicians listen, because running any political body, from a council to a government requires compromise between competing interests. You can listen to both the applicant who wants a planning application approved, and the neighbours who want it refused but you cannot give both sides everything they want.
Democracy in Cumbria and Britain alike would be healthier if a larger number of people were involved.
Comments
On delivering leaflets it is amazingly cheap to pay for it to be done and better still to get a marketing company to do calls to a script. E mails are effective
On paying to have leaflets delivered: it could come to that, but there are big advantages to having a network of local people to do it for you: you get a lot more feedback about what people are thinking.