Saturday 17 March 2012

Referism, Direct Democracy and Oblivion

In his usual Saturday op-ed piece in the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore writes on the subjects of human rights, civil servants and David Cameron.

Moore castigates what he calls 'independent' civil servants, making the point that civil servants serve, that if they become 'independent' then exactly who are they serving and therefore have, by default, then become master. Can not the same accusation be laid at the door of our elected representatives? As with civil servants who have become 'masters', so have our elected representatives, generally, in that they uphold the belief of Edmund Burke; coupled of course with their slavish behaviour where party Whips are concerned, in the hope of gaining personal advancement.

In his castigation of civil servants, Moore then proceeds to criticise those appointed to head quangos, IPSA and other public bodies, the result of which he maintains leaves Parliament, government, those elected and the public at the mercy of the unelected. Neither does he mention that the problem is self made - after all, who exactly is it that makes those appointments? Unfortunately, Moore does not then highlight that that is surely a democratic deficit in our present system of democracy.

David Cameron may well - to quote Moore - have been suspicious of the human rights theocrats. Again, rather unfortunately, Moore fails to note that Cameron must know that the return of 'rights', as with the return of powers from the EU, can only be accomplished with a decision to cease membership of both bodies, along with the Council of Europe. Moore also fails to proffer the suggestion that perhaps it is the people living in a country who are the only ones to decide the rights to which they - and anyone visiting that country - are entitled.

In making the point that in our present system of democracy the people have little or no say in that which is done to them and supposedly on their behalf, it is also worth my linking to a post from Richard North, EU Referendum, on the subject of a report by the National Audit Office on the subject of carbon capture and storage - and the small matter of £64million that has been wasted attempting to accomplish that which Richard North states is not technically feasible.

That much is, indeed, wrong with our present system of democracy is illustrated wherein Moore questions the power of bureaucrats viz-a- viz politicians and asking just what are Ministers for - which further begs the question just what is our system of representative democracy for. On the matter of Sir Jeremy Heywood and that of who is the superior partner - politician or civil servant - it is worth reading Quentin Letts in the Spectator, if you have not already done so.

The articles by Moore, Quentin Letts and Richard North demonstrate that where our money and rights are concerned, all that politicians and civil servants do is take - we, the people who fund what is no more than a giant ponzi scheme of interconnected elements - are never asked. I am forced to suggest that without the imposition of 'referism' and direct democracy, not only will our money be assigned into oblivion - so will our rights; and thereby we, as individuals.

7 comments:

TomTom said...

Charles Moore is a joke. He is an apologist for the Conservatives and has a blind spot when it comes to duplicity and corruptiopn by the Tory Elite

I no longer register these idiots. Today there was an inspector Rebus poiece on Radio 4 "wife of an MP is murdered" - who cares ? It is all so passe now.

I feel so detached from this kabuki theatre

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT: Re Moore - agreed, but the more it is highlighted the more, hopefully, people will become aware.

Stuart said...

I just love Tom Paine:

"A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution, is power without a right.

All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must either be delegated or assumed. There are no other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation."

"A constitution is the property of a nation, and not of those who exercise the government."

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Stuart Nice quote - must remember that for future use.

Stuart said...

Paine says in one section that government is a creature of the constitution, not the other way around. The very fact that any government in the UK can change the constitution and nature of parliament as it likes, means we have no constitution in the way Paine invisages one. Our constitution is a creature of parliament. That is our biggest problem. I am completely of the belief that we need a written single document constitution that is ratified by the people which sets up parliament and controls what it can and cannot do. It should start with the words "We the people of the United Kingdom as utlimate governors...". Not only that, we need the ability to step in when our delegates or system starts to get out of control. We keep coming back to the same argument.

Anonymous said...

Its not just our money and rights, but our national culture and ethos, therefore our historic nation, is being driven to extinction

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Stuart: The fact we keep coming back to the same argument shows how bad the situation is.......

DP111 Agreed.