A once common phrase among politicians was “Politics is the art of the possible”. In a world managed only by those with political power it is a neat, if somewhat cynical, summary of fact. To those who say that the world is still managed that way, I must disagree. The people being managed – you and I – are better broadly educated than we were fifty years ago. But not much better politically educated. Politicians often find it inconvenient to educate their electorate too well. The voters might start to get ideas above their station.
Citizens should be asked to do more in UK politics, says Martin Wolf in his 22Jul24 FT article. He quotes the “DEMOS Citizens White Paper” as an example of how this might happen. It is well worth reading the Paper, a sincere attempt to bring political decisions closer to people they affect – something we have been advocating for a long time. DEMOS might describe their move as a ‘first step in the right direction’. I applaud that, but wonder if such a step might not be swamped by today’s universal communications.
Daily Paradox articles on the subject are not confined to the UK but to politics worldwide. Belief in the need for us all to behave as one world and not as competing countries trying to out manoeuvre each other is essential for the survival of humanity. Will making voters better politically educated achieve that? Not directly. For reasons of survival, humans, like all other species, are primarily self-preserving. More political awareness will make that instinct stronger. But political education does bring universal awareness. With the planet in revolt and instant and international communications, world survival will eventually overtake country dominance.
Education of any sort is a long-haul strategy. Even if considerable resources and efforts are devoted to it there will be a gap between learning and applying. What will make people take a more thoughtful and serious view of their vote? Making it more valuable, surely. Not easy to do that. In a world of getting on for 10Bn people, one vote seems trivial. Two things would make it seem more relevant. If the vote was in some way earned or came as a reward for helping society it would certainly be appreciated more. You can’t ask people to pay for their votes so you have to do it the other way round.
You also can’t ask them to take exams to qualify for a vote. Voting is for everyone, not just the intellectually and lucidly gifted. There is also a psychological reward in numbers. It may not mean much if everyone has the same number but suppose personal behaviour and societal benefit could decrease or increase the number of votes? Then even small differences would count. People like getting medals from their Government for doing good, why not an extra vote or two? Social media followers count for something; votes in an election, for even more.
We need incentives for good behaviour today. Societies all over the world are becoming unruly, using violent protests instead of the vote – because their vote seems so irrelevant. Our suggested trial formula, for those who don’t know it, is reproduced below this article. It is flexible and can be developed. It will work immediately – and it will make people aware that they should know more about what is going on if they are to use their vote well.
So much of education today has to be ‘doing’ sooner than learning. I’m not convinced that it is always good but it is a fact. Getting people to value their votes will be achieved fastest by making voters more aware of them.
Politics is the art of the Personal.
It must become the Practice of the Collective.
Good morning
John Bittleston
The suggested remedy:
Give everyone one vote at age 16; two more at 18; two more at 20; two more at 22; two more at 24 and three more at 25. Total of 12 votes.
Allow courts to remove one or two votes for anti-social behaviour. Only able to remove up to 11 votes, never all 12 votes lost.
Allow lost votes to be regained by good behaviour or ‘no-offence’ periods.
Allow another eight ‘gratuity’ votes to be given individually to people who have made a special behavioural effort to improve society.
Allow any or all of those ‘gratuity’ votes to be removed for anti-social behaviour.
Everyone would then end up with between one and twenty votes.
How many votes have you got?
Views more than welcome at [email protected]. Thank you.
30 July 2024
