Today marks the 50-something election this country has had and the third in the last four years.
I don’t know who’s going to win. I don’t particularly care at this point. It’s all a game of cat and mouse and it’s unclear who’s who. If I were to believe my more fortunate friends, they’d have me believe the Tory’s are the saving grace of this country but if Twitter is anything to go by, there’s not a single person my age willing to vote anything other than Labour. For me, I see two white men fighting it out for power and using lies, deceit and the nativity of the public to do so.
So it turns into a game of who’s lies matter the least and who’s stances are the most acceptable. But here I want to understand how it got to be this way. How did we get to a point where honesty didn’t win. Weren’t we taught it was the best policy?
To be honest there isn’t a decisive answer to this, nor is there an ounce of clarity as to when politics shifted or a part of history we can look to as an explanation for this phenomena, just my speculation and opinion.
The current climate sees the parties one-upping each other as they seek to pander to specific demographics of the public. The new and bolder claims to help the NHS being one example of this blatant bribery being offered by these parties in exchange for votes. We also see a shift in values edging to the extreme of left and right wing policies as the parties capitalise on the already fragmented nature of voters in the UK; pushing the boundaries of immigration and military policies to extents we haven’t seen for a long time. And of course, the word of the decade isn’t spared for more than 5 minutes when discussing policies of the parties as Brexit looms over our heads like a sword held by a string. The constant battles of referendum versus some concise end to the three year saga sways votes again and again whilst a real end to the matter seems a fallacy at this point.
It’s because of this that I don’t care about our politics because it is clear to me that those in charge don’t really care about us. Following a random and somewhat weird discussion that broke out in my gym’s changing room, I came to the realisation that I’m all but a pawn in the game of chess between these inaccessible elites. Likening the campaigns to a Valentine’s Day showcase, I suddenly became aware that all the appearances and care being shown to us for this month is merely a facade put on to distract us from the reality of the situation. The reality being that we are fucked. We’re screwed. We’re a laughing stock to the world and that these people walking around in colleges and university’s aren’t superheroes but are in reality pillocks who can’t negotiate and strike a deal in three years but make promises to transform the nation in the matter of months.
That’s the biggest lie of them all. The cumulative result of their white lies and one-upping being the hidden premise of there being some real aid they can provide to the nation when the harsh reality is that we aren’t going to be okay. We haven’t been for the last three years and can’t be until the whole process of Brexit passes. The idea that we have money to spend and reform the educational and health care system when in reality we ought to be bracing ourselves for a potential recession is one that bothers me.
The truth, a concept that doesn’t seem to have any worth in modern politics, is that we are at a point where we can’t escape. Referendum or not, leave or remain, we will have to face embarrassment at the hands of the EU just so they can save face. We will have to face some economic hardship at a time where we are split as a society. We might face a lot more hurt than any politician cares to admit but it’s a fact that we will. We all know it but think we can hide behind fake promises and ideologies as some sort of shield. And this is why I conclude that politics is a concoction of lies and deceit, because of our conscious and wilful ignorance to the larger issues around us and the protection we seek from policies and ideologies as a shield from the reality.
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