The latest lump of faeces that has surfaced in the toilet bowel of British politics is the membership of prominent members of the Conservative party being associated with the Bullingdon Club – notorious for its rich-kid antics and the classic attitude of using money as an adhesive when something gets broken.
Whilst the (reported) actions of the club are pretty much the beacon of everything disgusting about wealth – I am constantly confronted with people slamming the Conservative Party, and whilst I am joining the queue of those waiting to take a hatchet to the current government, I am hesitant to do so because, by slandering the name of the Conservatives, I am influencing those around me that the alternatives (namely Labour) are a better bet. They are not. I would much sooner vote Conservative (not going to happen) than I would vote Labour (really really really really not going to happen).
“But Jack, although all the parties are clustered in an upper-right ball of poor-people-hate, Labour are slightly more Left-wing and Downwards so surely they would be your more likely option”. Yes, I know, it seems that it would make sense for that to be the case, but the Conservatives firm base in Capitalism at least cements their policies towards a direction that will vaguely better the country. It is Labour’s rapid up and right movement that is confusing them and letting them still think they still give a shit about the working class.
I’m biased but I am allowed to be – I’m a socialist. But let me quickly just summarise why I'd sooner have Conservatives running the country (and that is not something I often say):
Remember – I’m not supporting or defending the Conservatives. Big bad scary government. But their (being David Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osbourne) antics were a long time ago. Unforgivable, yes, but it was their decadent and spoilt-rotten youth. If they were still members or aligned to them, it would be a different story. But that is not the case and their ideology as prominent party members would do much less damage than Labour.
For your benefit, I have made a highlight reel of Labour’s government from 1997-2010.
Blair took the country to war based on lies and fear. Hundreds of British soldiers killed and wounded and thousands of Iraqi civilians murdered and often de-humanised.
During Labour's time in power they actually drove a man to suicide by using their power of Downing Street. I can't summarise this into one point so here is a link if you're actually interested: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10192271/The-betrayal-of-Dr-David-Kelly-10-years-on.html
Blair also sent troops incredibly unprepared into Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan for his government's benefit and marched it under the pretense of being 'humanitarian'.
Brown was essentially a leech, showing how hollow and incredibly conflicting and unorganised Labour were (just before Blair decided to use Brown as a scapegoat and go and hide behind his massive piles of money)
Gordon brown basically became obsessed with sneaking in little policies and hiding under the radar that he became blind to how much the economy had plummeted under his party's government.
Both Blair and Brown fucked over the Commons and basically weakened the amount of democracy that the country has. This article is slightly biased but there really are loads of examples you can get your hands on to see the way Blair undermined Parliament and ruled like a president. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/128383.stm
I’ll only briefly touch on immigration but essentially they really did fail to control immigration and it has led to a massive amount of resentment in the country. Although I personally don't think it's a bad thing to mix cultures, a lot of people do and we live in a democracy so upsetting the people = bad.
SPENDING BINGE. BORROWING CULTURE. TRIPLE DIP RECESSION. Come on, no one can argue against me there, surely?
And my personal least favourite - spying culture. Big Brother is watching you. Believe what I tell you. Freedom is slavery. War is peace. Etc.
So yes, I am concerned about a government who once had the potential to be heartlessly cruel and practically drag open the wealth gap and piss onto the poverty line. But I am more concerned about having a party in power who are at ease spitting on democracy, privacy and me personally.
Not happy to have a Conservative government but I’d pick that over another 13 years of Labour’s rule.
