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It worries me when politicians talk about their needing to “get back in power“, usually shortly after having criticised some policy, statement or edict from the governing party. Why? Because they seem to be prioritising their being in power before the policies that should facilitate that. This seems entirely the wrong way around. Power is granted when somebody demonstrates they have ideas and proposals that are better than those currently holding power, and win the votes of us, the people.

There’s a wonderful quote that best illustrates this dichotomy, and passes through my mind whenever I hear a politician talking about how awful things are, how they’d have fixed it, if only they were in power. I’m (mis)quoting it from memory, but is along the lines of: “Those who most want power are the very people who should be excluded from having it“.

The argument against my slightly tongue in cheek comments is probably best opposed through general philosophy. A particular party adopts (or at least used to) a philosophy or ideology, and the policy and ideas follow. Free market vs. State perhaps being core these days, Multilateral or Unilateral, and so on. We generally know where a Conservative or Labour party member stands (or at least did stand) on many of the big issues, but many of the lines are blurring away from ‘traditional’ divisions.

Of course a party has to change along with the views and opinions of the people of this country. On that note there’s an interesting exchange of letters between Andrew Marr and Joan Smith in this months Prospect which debates changing attitudes, for good or not, in Britain since ‘The Diana moment’.

But I suppose I’ve viewed changing political views and appetites as a much more gradual thing, still broadly along general philosophies. Going out and asking ‘what should we be doing’ seems, on the face of it, to be a genuine ‘reach out’. So it is intriguing, perhaps even a little volte face, that the Conservative party seems to be actively seeking ideas from the wider public in it’s shiny new ’stand up speak up’ initiative, which at least claims to be open to contributions from all persuasions. I suppose I’ve no reason to doubt it’s sincerity, and I imagine self-selection will play a large part in who would actually submit items, and the neo-Trotskyist elements who might be doing so for a bit of a subversive laugh will be easy enough to spot.

All in all I’m really not too sure how I feel about it though. I find myself wondering if they genuinely don’t have ideas of there own? Is it just a sop to the public to make them seem like they’re listening? Would they really change their own views and policies in the weight of a barrage of opinion that highlighted a disconnect between party and public? There does seem to be a US-theme to some of the ‘engage with the public’ approaches, from mayoral ‘primaries’ open to all, and elected local officials. Perhaps this too. It could be good, but I just can’t shift the cynical view that we’re back to that politician in the studio, putting power before policies.

This link came to me via my local Conservative councillor’s weblog. He’s the only one to maintain a weblog in my ward, and very well he does it too. If they’re after one particular policy I can support right now and without a moments doubt, it is to encourage more outreach along his example. Early days for him yet, but the other councillors in this ward, heck in Glasgow council chambers, really should be sitting up and paying attention to his example.

I’ve been saying it for years, but engaging and reaching out the electorate in new ways is needed to re-engage the disaffected with the political process. Perhaps then, as the final word in this post, I should try and be less cynical, take a leaf out of my own book, and take the Conservative initiative at face value? Political initiatives aren’t limited to those holding power after all, and it’s a problem that affects all parties equally, even if I still think the politicians themselves need to focus more on building and promoting their own ideas, rather than the power that many seem to crave.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Glasgow, Politics, Scotland, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.