Thread by @EleanorRylance, This state our country is in simply cannot continue. I believe that [...]

This state our country is in simply cannot continue. I believe that more and more of us see that. It’s harder to know what to *do* about it. I have a few suggestions.

1) Get involved in your community if you at all can. This is basis politics. Make things better. There is much need, and a huge variety of things you can do.

2) Stand for public office at whatever level you wish. Politics is about public policy. It’s not about the shouting. The shouting is the sound of people, disagreeing on how public policy should be drawn up. Every level of government does different things- they are all important.

3) Become an activist. For a political candidate, for a social cause, for a political party. If you beleive in it, and you wish people voted for it, go and talk to people about why *you* think they should vote for it.

4) A surprising number of my family have recently said “why can’t all politicians just *agree*?”

This is because they don’t believe the same values. There is a huge range of attitudes. Take justice for example- people’s views range from capital punishment to community orders.

4a) so it is difficult to reach compromises, which is something the greatest number of people can kind of agree on.

Please remember, *nothing* is perfect and politics certainly isn’t. Perfection is the enemy of optimum in public policy. It’s a unicorn.

4b) Consensus is reached largely through discussion and finding common views. This can be very difficult. Politicians tend to be quite feisty and used to playing rough. That’s one of the reasons why it can seem adversarial and not as efficient as it could be.

4c) But please bear in mind that sometimes, there are very large gaps between people’s starting points.

5) Our electoral system does not favour consensual politics. It favours ying/yang politics with the opposition as a counterweight. But First Past The Post leaves one party free to do what it likes. Especially with an 80 seat majority- they can do what they like. Can’t be stopped.

5a) if you think that FPTP is a silly system because it allows one unhinged party to wreak whatever damage they like from the morning after the election, you are not alone. There are organisations fighting for electoral reform. Join one!

6) Politicians are tasked with spending *your* money. You are perfectly entitled, and should ask questions about what happens to it. This is accountability. Unfortunately once your ballot is cast, there is no way to enforce this until the next election.

6a) in an ideal world, politicians would remember the Nolan Principles they are supposed to abide by in office. Most do. Some do not. The press rightly finds them out. But unfortunately the media noise this generates can convince people that every politician is up to no good.

6b) This is actually entirely untrue. I can pretty much guarantee that you will never have heard of most of our MPs, even ones that have been in office 30 years, because they simply do their jobs and do not court controversy.

6c) Yes there are some dodgy politicians. Arguably, politics attracts exactly the wrong sort of people- it’s a magnet for the power-crazed and those with particularly showy personalities. But people vote for showy personalities- if you want staid, vote for it.

6d) But there are also some dodgy nurses, plumbers and farriers. Any system has dodgy operators.

Luckily we don’t judge all doctors by the standards of Harold Shipman.

7) Politicians are like everyone else. They sometimes make mistakes. They get tired, they get sick, they have family problems, they have money problems, some get drunk too often. They are people. Sometimes they forget things, or overlook things. Not miracle-workers.

7a) Some countries have laws to protect public figures’ private lives. I think this is actually right.

What I caution people against doing is elevating any politician or public figure onto a pedestal. We are not cult leaders- we are spokespeople for a set of values.

7b) So my next request is to be realistic in what you expect politics and politicians to be able to achieve. Consider the environment. If a government has an 80-seat majority, and was put there by popular vote, they can get any law through parliament.

7c) You probably know my views on First Past The Post by now. I believe we need swingeing electoral reform, so that the politicians we elect represent our values better. This has never been more acute than it is now. The extremes are so extreme that there is no consensus possible

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