In the bygone days when we were all expected to be deferential and respect authority I would have assumed that any plum speaking, privately educated person could say and do what they wanted and nothing would be said publicly (apart from those who would then be labelled as socialists and agitators). However, we now live in different times. The internet; economic individualism; cultural shifts via human rights legislation and protest movements; dramatic increases in literacy; technology advances… have all led to a state of mistrust and cynicism as realism bites. Politicians and people in power fall over themselves to look more and more ridiculous. Whether out of an obsession for publicity or power or wealth we now have a layer of people who society recognises only by their self serving behaviour. This is then exacerbated by a political, social and cultural ignorance of the people they are meant to ‘represent’. Of course there are those who do not fit these criteria but they are too few.
Unfortunately Richard Drax is not only ignorant on all three fronts but he is also perceived by a growing number of people as a hypocrite. Ignorance and hypocrisy is a pretty lethal combination if you have access to power. It is catastrophic when there are literally hundreds of them domestically and thousands worldwide. In Mr Drax’s case we have a politician who spent more time polishing his gun than he did reading widely in preparation for his future role.
If you read the statement written by Mr Drax on his blog below hopefully we can reveal exactly why he is doing a complete disservice to the people of Dorset:
‘The pro-European lobby are repeatedly using the CBI’s call to remain in the EU to promote their stance, as James Wharton’s private member’s bill makes it way through the Commons, appearing again today. The Bill, to remind readers, calls for an in/out referendum in 2017. The point is that the eurosceptics, and I count myself as one, are not demanding that the UK leaves Europe in the way our opponents would have you believe. You’d think from what some of the europhiles say that the UK would be cast into outer space if we left the EU, never to be seen again, when nothing could be further from the truth. We want to trade with Europe, as was originally intended, but not be run by Europe. It really is that simple. And once we have complete control of our working practises, borders, budgets, justice system and other key areas, the UK would leap ahead like one of those sports cars tested by Jeremy Clarkson. And rather than lose jobs, we’d create them, as British industry, free at last from the EU yoke, ventured into new and expanding markets around the world. Listening to some of the speeches on the Labour Benches this afternoon, I became more and more depressed, as they banged on and on about the benefits of receiving millions of pounds for this and millions of pounds for that. This is called Socialism and just like dishing out welfare, it discourages aspiration, ambition and hard work, forcing member states to become more and more reliant on the titbits handed out by a Federalist/Socialist centre. You only have to look around the EU now to see what a total disaster a single currency is. Stay in the EU and we will join all these basket cases, who now lie at the feet of a mighty economy: Germany’s.’
I am not surprised that Richard Drax included Jeremy Clarkson. A man who has made millions out of misogyny and xenophobic comments not to mention celebrating very expensive lumps of metal being driven very fast….. There is though nothing wrong in finding EU membership very problematic. I do. On the one hand it offers protections against the worst excesses of individual power and serves to provide some protection to some of the more vulnerable but on the other hand it is undemocratic and serves to protect the neo liberal corporate agenda. To call it socialist is just plain silly Mr Drax. If it was we would not have millions of Europeans on their knees whilst you toast marshmallows over your various open fires whilst providing opium to various pharmaceuticals so that they can charge us to live. We exist within a corporatist continental system in which politicians and lobbyists do largely as they are told for significant economic returns.
As for blaming Europe for this government’s inability to create jobs (contrary to Mr Cameron’s claims that they have created 1.5 million jobs – which every one apart from his sycophantic circle knows is a lie) why don’t you look at the carnage of your heroine Mr Drax? From 800 thousand unemployed in 1978 to 3 million by 1981 through her vindictive and ideological decimation of British industry including many vital components for war making. We don’t hear you raising that key part of the discussion now do we? Why is that?
Interestingly, it is only the dogmatic and blindly ignorant who now deny that capitalism is eating itself and that no matter how corrupt or inefficient the EU might be they have prevented the world economy from falling in to the abyss. Can you imagine a system in which inequality is the raison d’etre but in which no safety net exists. It is the safety net that is preventing neighbours massacring neighbours as they fight to survive. It is the safety net that gives the capitalist system some credibility to those who do not contemplate it (or anything) much. You know them Mr Drax. They vote for you.
Flora the Implorer
