Tomorrow
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 5:49 pm
THE DEFICIT
There is a much more important deficit than any they talk about - the Deficit of Compassion.
In her blog "Wonder in Aliceland" (q.v.), Alice writes:
"nations are not households. If individuals are in debt, it makes sense to make cutbacks. Switch from Tesco to Aldi. Stop running a second car. Restrict holidays to the UK. That sort of thing.
"But a nation’s economy grows by investing in its citizens – and that means spending on infrastructure, healthcare, education, welfare, the services that support people, so that they can contribute back to society both practically, with their time, and financially, through taxation. Policies which only make the rich richer do not benefit the rest of society. Wealth is sticky. Once you’ve got hold of some, it gathers more, and those who have it are frequently reluctant to let go. The ‘trickle-down effect’ is a myth. In reality, wealth has more of a treacle effect.
"So what, if not the economy, am I worried about? I’m worried about another deficit, a much more disturbing one – a deficit of compassion, which has become increasingly apparent and alarming. It’s not just the Tories, all the main parties are showing symptoms.
" And it’s not just immigrants who have had a bad time. The unemployed, the disabled too – basically anybody who doesn’t fit the vision of the Hard Working Families with a good grasp of British Values (mysterious as they are) that the election campaigns of the main parties seem so desperate to target. What of hard working single people? What of all the people who are too disabled or depressed to work? What of those who work just as hard as any CEO, caring for their children, elderly parents, sick relatives?"
Indeed, Alice - what of them? As you say, around them many of our well-fed, complacent politicians have created a toxic atmosphere of blame, suspicion and fear, They have become the scapegoats of our sick society.
Alice goes on:
"For our future to look bright again, we have to stop thinking about people as numbers and statistics but as human beings. We have to acknowledge that not everybody can be (or necessarily wants to be) a Hard Working Family, but that we all have value nonetheless, and deserve respect. Nobody should be without support, if and when they need it. If our politicians want us to trust them again, they have to trust us in return – they have to stop laying the blame on vulnerable people for problems they did not cause, and they have to stop deliberately misleading the public because they think their real agendas might be unpopular."
That is all so true. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world; but what good is that if the wealth becomes ever more concentrated in the hands of a few. It seems to me that it is all a question of priorities. I cannot, nor will not vote for any party that puts the economy before people. The argument that we must get the economy right first in order that some day we all may benefit is but a shallow excuse to feather-bed the large corporations and the bosses and bankers who brought this country to its knees.
People must come first. To create a safe environment for the weak and vulnerable is, in the last analysis, the chief justification for government lest, as Thomas Hobbes said many years ago, life for most of us becomes "nasty, brutish and short".
If to achieve a sound NHS, better schools and a just and fairer society, we need to create and distribute wealth more efficiently, then so be it. But people must always come first; especially those, the weakest and most vulnerable in our society who, for whatever reason, cannot help themselves.
THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR VOTE. Is it a vote for your way of life or for those whose lives are immeasurably poorer?
There is a much more important deficit than any they talk about - the Deficit of Compassion.
In her blog "Wonder in Aliceland" (q.v.), Alice writes:
"nations are not households. If individuals are in debt, it makes sense to make cutbacks. Switch from Tesco to Aldi. Stop running a second car. Restrict holidays to the UK. That sort of thing.
"But a nation’s economy grows by investing in its citizens – and that means spending on infrastructure, healthcare, education, welfare, the services that support people, so that they can contribute back to society both practically, with their time, and financially, through taxation. Policies which only make the rich richer do not benefit the rest of society. Wealth is sticky. Once you’ve got hold of some, it gathers more, and those who have it are frequently reluctant to let go. The ‘trickle-down effect’ is a myth. In reality, wealth has more of a treacle effect.
"So what, if not the economy, am I worried about? I’m worried about another deficit, a much more disturbing one – a deficit of compassion, which has become increasingly apparent and alarming. It’s not just the Tories, all the main parties are showing symptoms.
" And it’s not just immigrants who have had a bad time. The unemployed, the disabled too – basically anybody who doesn’t fit the vision of the Hard Working Families with a good grasp of British Values (mysterious as they are) that the election campaigns of the main parties seem so desperate to target. What of hard working single people? What of all the people who are too disabled or depressed to work? What of those who work just as hard as any CEO, caring for their children, elderly parents, sick relatives?"
Indeed, Alice - what of them? As you say, around them many of our well-fed, complacent politicians have created a toxic atmosphere of blame, suspicion and fear, They have become the scapegoats of our sick society.
Alice goes on:
"For our future to look bright again, we have to stop thinking about people as numbers and statistics but as human beings. We have to acknowledge that not everybody can be (or necessarily wants to be) a Hard Working Family, but that we all have value nonetheless, and deserve respect. Nobody should be without support, if and when they need it. If our politicians want us to trust them again, they have to trust us in return – they have to stop laying the blame on vulnerable people for problems they did not cause, and they have to stop deliberately misleading the public because they think their real agendas might be unpopular."
That is all so true. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world; but what good is that if the wealth becomes ever more concentrated in the hands of a few. It seems to me that it is all a question of priorities. I cannot, nor will not vote for any party that puts the economy before people. The argument that we must get the economy right first in order that some day we all may benefit is but a shallow excuse to feather-bed the large corporations and the bosses and bankers who brought this country to its knees.
People must come first. To create a safe environment for the weak and vulnerable is, in the last analysis, the chief justification for government lest, as Thomas Hobbes said many years ago, life for most of us becomes "nasty, brutish and short".
If to achieve a sound NHS, better schools and a just and fairer society, we need to create and distribute wealth more efficiently, then so be it. But people must always come first; especially those, the weakest and most vulnerable in our society who, for whatever reason, cannot help themselves.
THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR VOTE. Is it a vote for your way of life or for those whose lives are immeasurably poorer?