Governments Are Obsolete - Part 1

I’m an obsessive writer, and last year I wrote four books, one of which is currently stuck on the last chapter. Two of the others have already been published, but both have needed some re-writes. One of these is a book which was originally called Reform or Ruin, and was about current politics and political parties, which led to a discussion on whether politicians have been made redundant by the advance of technology.

What follows is taken from the first section.

Why Did You Vote at the Last Election in the UK?

Let's start with some context.

I am writing as a UK citizen, so will start with the view from there.

You can take it that as I write this I am ashamed to be British, and not too keen to be living in Europe. I am sitting here, watching the decline of the West, and the rise of rampant fascism, together with what a hundred years ago was called moral turpitude, plus blatant double-speak, and rampant promotion of misinformation.

But for the moment never mind what I think. I'm interested in what others think, because if I'm on my own I'll shut up. I can afford to keep quiet because I am well into retirement age, and will probably just about manage to die before things become intolerable. This is also written before any 2024 UK election. In fact most of this book was written over the course of 2023.

Let's start with a question.

How did you vote in the last UK election?

Presumably you voted for your representative to support a few things you wanted government to get on with. Several years later are you a happy bunny?

Let's have a check on some of the things that were supposed to get done, and find out what kind of success rate the government can chalk up.

I believe the majority of people voted for the following (maybe that wasn't you, but it was the majority):

1 Bring back control of the UK to representatives in the UK rather than in a foreign country.

How did that one do? So far, no sign several years later of any significant move on that front. In fact, far from any success it seems as though Westminster has actually lost control of one of its provinces. Has our one and only gunboat unfortunately sunk?

2   Support the UK fishing industry. How is that getting on?

3  Get back control of the country's borders. Looks as though we've lost one. And the other borders are about as strong as a fence of spider webs.

Ouch! That's a seriously sore point. Your tax money is going to support illegal immigrants in hotels. Is that really what you voted for?

I thought the UK had a rather good armed force. Cant they even protect the country's own borders from unarmed guys in rowing boats? It must be embarrassing to be in the British armed forces these days.

There is another question that needs to be asked here. Why have you voted for a party that wants to look after foreigners? Sounds like a weird form of political ideology to me.

Hold on, this gets even more strange. The current mob in charge (let's leave aside for a moment whether they really are in charge of anything) has spent and is still spending outrageous sums of money supposedly to support a corrupt government on the other side of the continent. Is that something you voted for? Is that what you work overtime week after week and pay taxes for? And perhaps I should also ask how those billions that are being spent are producing anything tangible for the UK electorate?

4   How is the current government managing the economy? Going well, is it?

5   Inflation is under control no doubt, or is that a total screwball as well?

6   No doubt you are pleased with the way the government is looking after your interests in a general way. Secured plenty of agricultural products going into the winter season, has it?

7   Energy requirements all going swimmingly I suppose? Plenty of heat and power available for the winter cold, and to keep the wheels of industry turning most industriously?

8   In fact are we all better off than we were at the time of the last general election?

9   And are we more confident about the future now than we were back then?

For now I will simply ask several questions based upon the general state of the country and the progress, or lack of it, in the ability of the government to deliver on their election promises.

OK, here is the chart showing questions and ratings out of a possible ten points. There are ten categories so the total out of 100 possible points shows how well the government is achieving what it claimed to set out to do.

Bring back control to Westminster from Brussels 2

Support for UK fishing industry 1

Control of country’s borders 0

The army’s effectiveness 0

Benefit from tax money wasted supporting foreigners 0

Benefits from foreign policy 0

Managing the economy 0

Managing inflation 0

Managing the country’s energy requirements 0

General feel-good quotient 0

Total out of a possible 100 3

Am I being too ungenerous in pointing out that a score of 3 out of 100 is pretty poor? And some folks might claim those 3 points are on the generous side for a start.

I think the above list of achievements is so bad as to be described as way, way, below appalling.

I would have thought that a figure lower than 45 would demand a new government, but 3!! In my opinion that amounts to treason. But the question asked in the title still stands. Why did you vote at the last general election? Your vote clearly didn’t make any difference. Voting is clearly a total waste of time.