Is this what the end of history looks like? Francis Fukuyama’s
“The End of History”, which was developed at the end of the Cold War,
represented the triumph of free market western democracy over communism,
fascism and feudalism. Three decades after the free market revolution of
Margaret Thatcher, our political system in Britain has been transformed. For
domestic British politics, the end of history seems to have embodied the triumph
of neoliberalism over democratic socialism, social democracy, social liberalism
and one nation conservatism. The democratic battle between the Keynesianism of
the left and the free market of the right seems to be over in Britain. One of Margaret
Thatcher's most famous free market slogans was "there is no
alternative" a phrase that was often referred to by the acronym of TINA. Thirty
five years since Thatcher came to power and in the age of austerity; TINA still
dominates the political discourse in Britain. This is bad both for Britain and
for our democracy.
Since Thatcher's government, we have seen a steady hollowing
out of party politics. Politicians today take great pride in the fact that they
have no guiding philosophy or ideology. Valueless pragmatism is the name of the
game in 21st century politics. It is very common to hear politicians attack
their political opponents for being "ideological" or "political."
The person who embodied the hollowing out of politics more than any other was
the New Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. New Labour used focus groups to
develop policies as well as having a great emphasis on the need to spin and
manage the party's media presence. Blair no doubt saw ideology as a relic of
the past that surely must have died out at the end of the 20th century. But far
from phrases such as ideological or political being insults; isn’t it these
things, what are supposed to fuel democracy? Democracy should be a politically
driven competition between different ideas and philosophies.
Today the main political parties in Britain all represent
different versions of the neoliberal consensus of the last three decades. A
kind of fifty shades of neoliberalism. The Conservatives were obviously the
first party to adopt the neoliberal framework as Thatcher went to war with the
one nation Tory old guard within her own party. This was followed by Tony Blair
co-opting the Labour Party into the neoliberal consensus. The one-time party of
socialism and social democracy became staunch defenders of the free market and
many public service reforms under a programme called “the third way.” Far from
being an alternative to traditional social democracy or the free market; the
third way in reality represented a slightly more moderate version of the policies
begun by Margaret Thatcher. Finally, the Liberal Democrats have increasingly
adopted free market based policies influenced by the neoliberal Orange Book.
The Orange Book has gone against the grain of the Lib Dems’ philosophy of
social liberalism; which has been dominant in the party since 1906. Orange Book
liberalism has seen its zenith under the coalition with the Conservatives, with
many contributors to the Orange Book holding senior posts in the Coalition Government.
In 2014, apathy in British politics as well as mistrust of
politicians is very high. These factors are probably partly influenced by the
fact that there is no discernible difference between the philosophies of the
main three parties. No senior politician in Britain today seems to articulate a
real vision of the future. Clement Attlee had his "New Jerusalem",
Margaret Thatcher had her "Property Owning Democracy" but where is
the big political vision of 2014 coming from? Where is the essence of democracy,
the ideas and the visions?
Politicians of all political stripes need to re-engage with
the people, and perhaps no group needs more engagement than the working
classes. Over the past 20 years, the working classes have been increasingly
alienated by British politics as politicians from across the spectrum have
sought the votes of Middle England. There is a danger that this gap in the
focus of the main parties may be filled by extremist parties. In particular,
the right wing nationalist party, UKIP are seeking to reach out to disenchanted
working class voters. UKIP are exploiting the political void left by Labour,
the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. Surely, the main three parties
cannot abandon many working class voters to UKIP and the politics of fear. The
political mainstream need to invoke the spirit of Clement Attlee, Nye Bevan and
David Lloyd George; politicians who inspired millions of working class people
to get involved in politics. Whoever can successfully reach out and harness the
working class vote will determine the outcome of general elections.
A second group that politicians desperately need to re-engage
with are young people. The voters aged between 18 and 25 represent the literal
future of Britain and its democracy. Yet the same age group is suffering
immensely in the current economic climate. One in five young people are
unemployed. That's a youth unemployment rate of 20%. The average rate of
unemployment during the years of the Great Depression was 17%. We must face the
reality of the situation that in this country we have mass youth unemployment.
This is an entire generation of people who feel unable to contribute to our
economy and unable to take the first step on the job ladder. Politicians are
often (quite rightly) concerned with the issues of older voters, however many
young people feel neglected by our current politicians and feel turned off by
politics in general. This is going to be very bad if fewer people have faith in
politics and if young people do not think it can make a real difference to
their lives.
A healthy democracy is one that flows with new political ideas.
Big ideas, guiding philosophies and political passion will re-engage many voters
who have been turned off by the politics of recent decades and will ensure a
revival of democratic participation. The Liberal Democrats need to reassert
their historic social liberal philosophy over the Orange Book. Whereas, Labour
need to rediscover progressive politics. In fairness to the Conservatives, they
are the only party in British politics that are able to follow their true
conservative ideology as it is the only one that naturally seeks to expand the
reach of the free market economy. Thus modern conservatism is the only ideology
that naturally seeks to advance neoliberalism.
We need to bring back the battle of ideas and with it
politicians who seek to make a real difference, according to their own set of
ideals and philosophies. The strength of our democracy depends upon it. Britain
desperately needs a progressive alternative to the neoliberal consensus, and it
is ultimately up to the Liberal Democrats and Labour (and perhaps even some
Conservatives) to provide one. Politicians must be proud to be political again.
Politicians need to have a defining vision. But above all in the age of
austerity what people really need is hope. Hope for a better, fairer future for
them and their friends and families. Hope that will encourage them to become
active in our democracy again. Because if Britain's politicians are not willing
to revive democracy and engage many of those alienated in recent years; then
the future of politics will indeed be hopeless, especially from the perspective
of the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society. For British democracy
to remain strong, we need to revive big ideas, we need to re-engage with
alienated groups and we need progressive visions to help everyone in society;
not just the ultra-wealthy.
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