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| Power without responsibility, in all senses |
"Power without responsibility: the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages"
Somehow this has become my phrase of the week...
Power without responsibility I - politics
If you're following the story in the news, you're probably aware that our MPs seem to be somewhat divorced from the real world.
As a commuter on my train yesterday put it:
"they've claimed money that they say was within the rules at parliament, yeah, but looks a bit dodgy. So they write a cheque to pay it back. Now come on. They can afford to write a cheque for what 15, 20 grand straight off? And they think that makes them look MORE in touch with what life's like for the rest of us?"
I think most of us would love to find ourselves so financially secure that we'd no idea when we'd finished paying off our mortgage.
I think it's the fact that these expenses claims are being revealed against a background of recession, job losses and tax rises which makes it seem even more unreasonable and discourteous to the public.
But I'm not going to go into the details of MPs expenses. I know it's not exactly party political (seems to cut across most parties in Westminster actually), but I still feel uncomfortable given that I'm also public sector.
Power without responsibility II - personal irresponsibility
But I can't just leave this subject out of my blog entirely, give the Christian perspective I try to bring to issues of the day via writing this.
I mean, come on, where's the sense of personal responsibility gone?
I very much dislike the culture of this-is-how-it's-done-here on morally suspect use of taxpayers' money, not least because it is my tax money that's funding it (yes, we in the public sector do actually pay tax. I know that surprises some people).
I find it astonishing the number of people in parliament who seem to be able to suspend any sense of questioning whether their approach is extravagant because "everyone's doing it".
But then, I live in a country with fantastically high levels of personal debt because we've been persuaded by advertising that we're nothing if we don't have not just a TV but the latest, largest flatscreen digital TV (check out the current TV advertising for companies offering this sort of thing "for everyone" - I guess that's everyone that prizes having it over the small print that says it's 29.9% APR...).
We complain about our MPs having a sense of entitlement to an extravagant lifestyle at our expense, but are we absolutely sure we'd be any different if it was us? Are we certain we'd hold back, even if the Fees Office told us we were entitled?
I know I hold back and have not always claimed for everything I've technically been entitled to claim on expenses.
Power without responsibility III - the media
... or the art of dramatic overstatement...
I don't particularly like the high moral position that journalists are taking towards the issue.
The Daily Telegraph was the paper that broke this story. It appears to be continuing to refuse to say whether the information they're putting out "in the public interest" was stolen or how much they paid for it. They call it protecting their sources, the prerogative of the press.
As Menzies Campbell pointed out on BBC "Question Time" last night, there's an irony in that position and calling for "transparency" from politicians.
Of course that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be transparency on the MPs expenses, just that it seems a bit hypocritical.
The Rudyard Kipling / Stanley Balwin quote I used at the top of the page is actually quite applicable to the media. I can't help feeling that there's almost a sense of childish joy, of how far can we push this, how much power have we, the press, got?
Look at Robert Peston, the man who broke Northern Rock. Fantastic story, great exclusive. I just wonder how much endless nights of TV pictures of scared investors trying to withdraw their money led to more scared investors and then the end result became inevitable?
Did the responsibility to tell the public that story outweigh any kind of responsibility to give the powers that might have been able to find other solutions a chance to do so? Did 24-hour news pressurise the situation and make one result more inevitable than another?
Power without responsibility IV - they've all got their snouts in the trough... and the law of unintended consequences...
But I'm worried about the "public" response to this expenses scandal. Many people interviewed on TV seem to be of the view that politiciains should face criminal charges for the expenses they've claimed. who knows, if they've got it wrong on taxes etc. there's a possiblity some could. But claiming expenses does not of itself mean that politicians should go to jail...
We no longer live in a deferrential society. We no longer give respect as a matter of course (for example in today's letters page in London Lite newpaper readers were asking why SHOULD we pay for police protection for junior royals to go out and be sick on the paparazzi just because they're royal?)
We now believe respect has to be earned. And can be lost. In that context, politicians are no longer automatically to be considered worthy of respect per se.
But with so many MPs losing the respect of the public, is parliament the institution at risk of losing our respect?
What happens when we think they're all as bad as each other, when we get cynical aobut mainstream politics, when the situation continues to be stoked up by the media with power but no responsibility other than to increase readership or viewing figures?
What are the consequences - intended or unintended - of that?
What about the impact on democracy, the rule of law, lessons from the Weimar republic and the EU as our reference points?
More in my next posting...
But I leave you with this thought...
Terry Pratchett has written that "Probably the last sound heard before the Universe folded up like a paper hat would be someone saying "What happens if I do this?"" (please do read Terry Pratchett, he's hilariously funny and you might accidentally learn something about life in amongst the trolls and wizards).
It'd be nice to believe that our economy and our political system might be more robust and that a sense of responsibility from all parties might kick in before it all reaches paper hat stage. I guess we've just got to wait and see.
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Posted by rose22 on 2009-05-15 19:11:44 | Rating: | Views: 136
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