It is really heartening to read the above! The prevalence of nasty insulting messages on news websites is depressing...MNers are a cut above.
I am a Politics graduate and was CEO of a people charity before Sjogren's laid me low - but I have been an election teller and vote counter in recent years and seen democracy in action.
My commitment is to democracy - people ought to use their vote!
Ever since poorer men and then wimmin too won the vote the powerful oligarchs (it is not just Russia who has these men pulling strings) have concentrated on trying to persuade these people not to bother voting 'as politicians are all as bad as each other'. Whenever you see that point of view someone somewhere is rubbing their hands in glee! (If you want to know who they are the guest list at Margaret Thatcher's funeral would be a good starting point!)
Other tactics are to hound opposition politicians - worryingly appealing ones such as Kinnock and Blair - to put people off voting for the opposition. Their third tactic is bribery - taxes and of course immigration (though they have just been outflanked on that of course).
As a charity CEO I met a number of politicians at ministerial and shadow ministerial levels and thought them all decent people who clearly had a commitment and a toughness to be in politics. In all the interviews I gave to newspapers not one resulting article was error free. And TV is blindsided by their deadlines and need for 'an angle'.
The reality is that our democracy should really be called a 'Bureaucratic Democracy' as perforce most of the decisions and policies etc are made by faceless civil servants. And as 'Yes Minister' showed us they also control what the Ministers get to see - if they can. Yet the person who bowed to the renderers' pressure and signed the document allowing them to treat offal at lower temperatures - saving vast sums in energy costs - was responsible for CJD. S/he probably read Classics at Oxford and was no scientist. Now s/he is retired with a generous pension and an Honour (and these days a bonus payment too!).
Bottom line is that whoever is elected has to face 'Events' and do their best. Only a small part of the work of government involves significant choice - especially with Treasury in attack dog mode.
Now the present PM is really not popular with the tory party oligarchs who are livid that he went into coalition with the LibDems. You may have noticed their hounding of Nick Clegg in the media? The reason for this is that, with Lib Dems at the table, the PM has in effect seen off the oligarchs who chose him as an attractive 'Blair-type' whose strings they could pull. Instead they have a PM who is playing it his way! they are out of the loop. So in my view, the Lib Dems have done the country a big favour yet they are paying a heavy price.
To put my cards on the table - if you have stuck with me thus far - personally I am not content with the male-dominated adversarial system that has evolved. I doubt it is able to address the complex issues facing us today in anything like an effective way. More female MPs and PM/Ministers with young children is a marvellous development though! Blair, Brown and Cameron all have the parent's perspective necessarily and I have liked them and trusted them better for it.
Civil servants must be more accountable - why should our elected reps take the blame for their mistakes? That alone puts a lot of good people off entering politics.
Coalition government would seem to be the best way forward. And when the first ministerial appointment is made on the basis of the best person for the job I will raise a glass. (When that does happen I predict it will be a woman and the task she faces will be so challenging no man would take it on - eg during the expected lethal viral pandemic when it explodes and the rich and powerful run for cover).
So really think through what matters most to you, always question in your own mind motives for arguments you hear, judge character and integrity (people in all parties vary) but whatever you do VOTE. Then pray for a fair wind for our country in the years ahead. 