Democracy - Why don't we care about it?

We've just had elections for Police & Crime Commissioners (for the first time ever).

We also had three Parliamentiary Byelections at the same time.

The turn-out was between 10% and 18%. This is disgraceful. The number of people bothering to exercise their precious right to vote has been falling dramatically in recent years and it makes me angry.

It makes me angry because over the centuries people have campaigned, fought and died in order to obtain the right to be heard, and the right to elect the people who govern.

I have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't care about exercising this right and then has the gall to complain about whatever governments are doing.

It is undeniable that over the years we have developed an understandable scepticism about our politicians and governments; they can't be trusted, they don't keep their promises, they are dishonest, they are in it for themselves, and so on. But these are not reasons to turn our back on democracy; they are reasons to increase our activity in it!

What do these people who don't care really want? Do they want dictatorship?

We are all human beings with manifold flaws in our characters, and people who aspire to be politicians are no different. But it is better to have imperfect human beings whom we elect than suffer oppression under imperfect human beings with absolute control over us.

Here in the UK we could improve things by abandoning this long-held tradition of voting on Thursdays. Why the hell does that happen? What's so special about Thursdays? What's wrong with voting on Saturdays or Sundays? There's also a lot to be said for making voting a statutory obligation. After all, we are legally obliged to pay our taxes, and the old cry is "No taxation without representation". So, why not a legal obligation to vote?! And before anyone says, "Well, I don't like any of these cretins", ballot papers in a compulsory vote would have to have a box for "Abstention", "None of the Above", "Anti-Democracy" .. call it what you will.

Come on Britain, wake up!

I Despair of the Human Race

I am going through one my periods of despair over the kind of world in which my grandson has to grow up.

Although we are now technologically advanced beyond the wildest dreams of our forefathers we appear to have learned  nothing in the matter of how to behave as human beings. We have 21st century methods of communications, information handling, and truly amazing ways of killing each other, driven by a stone age sense of morality.

Was there ever an "age of enlightenment"? How enlightened are we?

Why are some religious basket cases still finding a rationale for killing innocent people?

Why are some religious fruit and nut cases still refusing to accept scientific evidence as to the age of the planet on which we live?

Why does Israel think it has a God-given right to take other people's lands and settle on them? Why does Iran think it has a God-given right to wipe Israel off the face of the earth? Which of these countries is morally right?

When Adolph Hitler and his vile regime were finally obliterated we hoped that would be the end of such tyrants, but they have continued to spring up all over the place, the latest being President Assad of Syria. And when the world (through the UN) try to do something about it, they are thwarted by the wishes of China and Russia looking after their own interest.

Why are some young people in Britain (and elsewhere) devoid of any kind of conscience and are happy to indulge in drive-by shootings, or random stabbings of others because they don't like their colour? I cannot forget the image from the CCTV footage of the young man caught up in the Tottenham riots last summer, being injured and then apparently helped by a group of other young men, whilst they simultaneously and systematically removed the contents of the injured man's back pack.

Taxi driver Raoul Moat went on a wild shooting spree killing and injuring people in his locality. At one point he went up to a police car parked on the roadside and shot the officer in the head, blinding him. After a period of heroic efforts to come to terms with a new life without sight, the policeman recently ended his own life. When this news item appeared as an online news item, some disgusting idiot took it into his head to post a comment that it served him right for being a member of the Police chasing Raoul Moat.

Politicians lie through their teeth to get elected; criminals use the internet to extract money out of gullible people; paedophiles groom young people for their sick sexual fantasies; some of them are priests! American presidential candidates slag each other off in eye-wateringly expensive ad campaigns, then finish off their pathetic speeches with "God bless America". What do these people know of God?

And so I fear for my grandson's future. But then I look back to when I was his age and remember the bleak outlook and ever-present fear brought about by the threat of World War 3 and the obliteration of civilisation as we knew it by hydrogen bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles. There was probably as much crime around then as there is now; it's just that nowadays we know more about it. We never used to have a "24-7" news service, nor did we have the Internet. I survived the fear; I survived the disillusionment.

It may be, God willing, that my grandson will also survive and be able to live a decent life.

I think it's time I went out into the garden to look at the spring daffodils and crocuses. Well .. I would .. If only the neighbourhood's dogs would stop barking! (Dog owners without a conscience.)

Death Penalty

It is reported today in the New York Times that some States are considering getting rid of the death penalty as a cost saving measure. Apparently capital punishment cases are considerably more expensive to administer than others. The Governor of Maryland is conveniently also using his religious beliefs to push forward the case for abolition.

To my mind the case against capital punishment is quite simple. It has nothing to do with cost. It could certainly have something to do with religious belief ("Thou shalt not kill") but the overwhelming case against the death penalty is the unfortunate fact that people are all too frequently wrongly convicted. When fresh evidence comes to light, or a case of police corruption is uncovered, it is not within our power to restore life to someone who has been executed.

The sooner all the American States abolish this barbaric and ineffectual punishment the better.

What are the Police for?

In particular, what are the Cheshire Police for?

Adam Swellings, Jordan Cunliffe and Stephen Sorton - all semi-permanently drunk teenage vandals on the rampage in Warrington - have at last been sent to prison "for life", but for this piece of justice to be done they had to kick a father of three to death outside his own home for daring to confront them. But for months before this happened this gang of drunken sub-human idiots had regularly terrorised decent people, and in spite of constant complaints to the Police, local officers were either unable or unwilling to anything about them.

The ringleader of the gang has had at least 11 previous convictions for assault, and breaches of restraining orders. Not long before murdering Garry Newlove outside his home he had been arrested for punching a man who caught him damaging his car. He was remanded in custody but some JP with half a brain allowed him out on bail on condition that he stayed away from the streets of Warrington.

I am wondering when we are going to reach the point when we all accept that thugs who inflict physical punishment on innocent people should themselves have physical punishment inflicted on them. How much longer are we going to be so ridiculously soft on these dregs of society. And I am wondering when the Police are going to get off their arses and help us reclaim our streets. And I am wondering when - on those welcome occasions when the Police do round them and bring them to court - our magistrates and judges will back them up by not releasing them back into the community again with a slap on the wrist and an instruction to stay away from certain areas.

Wake up England, for God's sake!