Hot 'n' High
Agree completely.
In the current post Iraq environment both in Oz and the UK, there’s a real need for our politicians to lift their game.
We need a politics where politicians speak in Parliament and on TV like normal people, setting out arguments in a rational manner, acknowledging the strength of opposing points of view, admitting previous mistakes, eschewing high blown rhetoric and the politics of personal abuse and deceit. We need a form of politics where statistics are no longer used in a deliberately misleading way; where issues are discussed and views put forward because politicians believe in them rather than for short term tactical gain; where politicians are motivated by concern for their country and its people, rather than mere self interest and political survival. Yet, too often, politicians behave as if scoring points against one another was the real art and purpose of politics.
Also, there is enormous danger for a free society where those who are elected to office are, because of the very fact that that they have been elected, distrusted. Increasingly, it is unelected bureaucrats, rather than Ministers, who decide policy. These ‘experts’ may offer useful advice. But politics is about more than expertise; it is about wider judgments of the national interest and recognition that decisions in one policy area can have profound consequences in other areas. In a democracy, it’s the people’s representatives, and not bureaucrats, who must take the decisions, after weighing up the opposing views and arguments.
It’s time for a new civility, accountability and seriousness in our nation’s politics. Politicians must find ways to restore faith in politics; and it won’t be easy. It will require fundamental changes to politicians’ behaviour. People want a new politics; an honest politics; and a politics that brings genuine improvement to people’s lives. It’s time for the politicians to deliver.