Paine,
a customs and excise man, lived at the George Hotel from December 1762 until he
was transferred to Alford in 1764. The site of the hotel is now occupied by the
George Shopping Centre.
The
political system that Paine argued against became known as ‘The Old
Corruption’. Reading about the unveiling in the newsletter of the Thomas Paine
Society reminded me about the comments I made about the state of democracy in
2004.
Unaccountable Power
On 8 October The Guardian published a letter by me
in response to an article by Michael Meacher (Bring power back under control,
October 6). I pointed out that he had missed one of the most important elements about what is wrong with
the state of our political system, the
unaccountable power wielded by arms' length agencies, quangos and regulators
has created the 'New Corruption’. ‘Why bother to vote when national and local politicians no longer have any
real power and control over affairs, as a result of the enormous power handed
over to arms' length quangos, agencies and regulators; power that often is used
so incompetently that as always it is the ordinary people who pay the price.
We are in an era of the ‘new
corruption’, just as dishonest as the ‘old corruption’ that the late 18th- and
early 19th-century radicals fought against in their campaigns for Parliamentary reform
and the extension of the suffrage. Except our 'New Corruption' can be described as
Orwellian.The government has talked for
years about local people being at the heart of the decision-making. Tell that
to the communities which are having phone masts foisted on them, or their post
offices closed, or being penalised for not agreeing to stock transfer.’
The letter can be seen on: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/comment/0,9236,1322624,00.html
It was composed during the period of Labour
Government under Tony Blair, ‘The Godfather’.
The Democratic Crisis
I also had posted on my general website reflections
on the state of democracy in 2004.
‘British democracy appears to be in crisis:
contempt for politicians, disengagement from the political process, low level
of participation in elections. A wide range of arguments are put to explain
this: political and media spin, hypocritical personal behaviours of politicians
(sleeze), the perceived failure of local and central government to deliver on
their promises in a way that people can see beneficially affects their lives,
or riding rough-shod over widely held concerns. The anti-democratic British
National Party has been able to obtain short-term electoral advantage, boosted
by anti-asylum seeker and refugee rhetoric from leading mainstream politicians.
Low election turnouts are not a new phenomenon. The
Holborn Conservatives bemoaned it when in 1937 six Labour Councillors were
elected for the first time. This anecdote is a reminder that achieving high
levels of local electoral participation has to be worked at. Where local political
parties take their vote for granted, and/or do not work to convince people to
vote, then turnouts remain low. If political parties reduce their own internal
democracy and alienate members, they will not have enough people to make the
face to face contact with electors that is an essential part of sustaining a
culture of electoral and democratic involvement.
Reform To Reinvigorate Democracy
The Government considers that local government
reform will reinvigorate democracy. It is debatable whether the implementation
of its largely technical proposals will do so. Government policies about
putting people at the heart of decision making are seen as empty rhetoric, as
it continues to exert heavy central control over spending programmes such as
New Deal for Communities and Neighbourhood Renewal, or imposes unpopular
decisions like the expansion of Heathrow airport. While it recognises that
regenerating deprived communities will take 15-20 years, it is impatient for
results. It does not give people and organisations a chance to obtain results before
forcing another set of reforms. The consensus about local regeneration and
community well-being that might be achievable through Community Strategies and
Local Strategic Partnerships could result in electors thinking that there is no
need to vote, because voting for a particular political party is not going to
radically alter the consensus.
Devolution in Scotland and Wales has not solved the
problem of disengagement. The proposed devolution for English regions seems
dubious in terms of any potential claimed for it for improving democratic
engagement. No wonder it has been rejected in the referendums. What might begin
to make a difference and enable people to engage is to require the
establishment of neighbourhood governance structures or reduce the size of
local authorities.
Electors cannot be criticised for thinking that
voting is irrelevant when so many decisions seem to be out of the hands of
elected politicians: the requirements of the European Community, the power of
multi-nationals, and the devolution at arms-length of so many services to
regulators and other unelected bodies. Nor can they be criticised for thinking
that politicians often get too involved in issues largely irrelevant to the
majority of people, like fox-hunting. The cautious approach to House of Lords
reform reinforces this by missing the opportunity to develop a new equal
relationship between the four nations, and a new approach to UK wide
governance.
The roots of the current crisis have been growing
slowly over a number of decades. As the population sizes of Parliamentary
constituencies and local authority wards have grown, it becomes more and more
difficult for people to have regular personal contact with their MPs and
councillors. The cumulative decline of engagement in democratically controlled
organisations, like friendly societies, co-operatives and trade unions, has
eroded people’s experience of democratic representation and participation. This
is underpinned by a popular lack of historic understanding of the struggle to build
democracy and the consequences of not rigorously defending and promoting
democratic participation. The strength of evolving British democracy lay in
mass involvement in its practice and in debates about its theory through mutual
associations.
Commercially driven ‘consumerism’ makes people only
think of themselves, and reject collective solutions. This has been reinforced
by Governments seeing people as ‘consumers’, not as ‘citizens’ with a right to
services, and by many mutuals downgrading democratic engagement.
Popular engagement in politics has had its historic
ebbs and flows. It is difficult to tell whether we are in an ebb from which we
can recover, or are spiralling downwards to an extent that it will be difficult
to recover support for both representative and participatory democracy.
British historical experience suggests that the
challenge of reversing political disengagement and strengthening both
representative and participatory democracy cannot be left just to politicians.
Democracy was built from below, and will need to be re-built from below. There
will be an important role in this for practical organisation of a new
'associationism’. There is considerable scope for this within local communities
linked to opportunities available through the Government agendas, even though
these might be only short term. Networking and alliance building will be
crucial.
All advances on the road to democracy were
pioneered by people with a minority perspective, whether political radicals or
motivated by faith. Such groups need to be nurtured and funded to play their
role in creative questioning and suggesting new solutions and approaches.’
7
Years On
Am
I being too pessimistic in thinking that things have only got worse in the last
7 years? August’s riots with their extensive criminality and madness suggests
that a large section of society has actually become nihilistic with no
adherence to any social values apart from pure selfishness and an amoral
ignoring of the effect of looting and arson on other people’s lives. So
corruption at the top and corruption at the bottom.
I
wonder what Tom Paine would be writing if he was alive today?
The plaque can be seen on:
and
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