Is democracy giving way to corporatism?

It's not merely that those we elect no longer decide.  What's so shocking is how many people appear to actively approve of the way that MPs have been emasculated.

Last week it emerged that a court, not voters, now decides if an MP is doing a good job representing their constituents.  Human Rights rules now mean that it is not up to those we elect to formulate a whole range of public policy.  An alphabet soup of corporatist quangos runs the show, while pretending to answer to ministers. A few dozen clowns in SW1 pretend to be those ministers.  

And everywhere audiences cheer the commentator who declares something "too important for party politics".

Party politics is becoming so discredited, many now seem to believe public policy decisions should be left to "experts", judges and officials. 

In our moribund democracy, the demos seem to prefer independent watchdogs, commissioners, or even hereditary peers. Anything but party placemen.

For democrats like me, there's no point in explaining that the idea of disinterested technocrats is an illusion, and that no such person exists. Or that deference to supposed "experts" makes it much more difficult to recognise and correct failures.  There's no point in saying that leaving it to "experts" was precisely what happened with child protection in Haringey.  Or with the Bank of England setting interest rates too low for too long.

It's urgent and vital that we clean up Westminster and bring more competition and accountability to politics.  Without it, people will continue to lose faith.

And unless we restore confidence to the Westminster system, people are going to end up preferring a technocracy that is technically inept to a democracy that excludes the people.  We’re already half way there.

The photo is of Ayn Rand, whose novel, which touches on some of these themes, I recently came across and  I review here . 

Posted on 7 February 2009 by Douglas Carswell

Comments

Mr. Carswell, surely it is a fact that this government, along with the EU, has emasculated our democracy to such an extent that it is a case not that the people prefer the present situation but that they know there is no point in protesting and are just waiting for the general election.
We need democracy - aka The Plan - returned to us so keep plugging the book!
I believe Thomas Jefferson(?) said "I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it is."

Posted on 7 February 2009 18:56 by Witterings From Witney

I agree with the Witterer. We do need democracy (of a sort) but political parties are the very antithesis of democracy. The Plan has much going for it - keep plugging.

Posted on 7 February 2009 19:06 by Jerry

Are these the same voters who thought John Sargent was the best dancer?

It's been a while since I read "Atlas Shrugged" but I don't remember it being particularly complimentary about democracy. In fact I thought Ayn Rand regarded "the Demos" (a singular noun by the way) with a certain amount of contempt.

Personally I remain far from convinced that we really need people to tell us what to do at all.

Posted on 7 February 2009 19:38 by Mark Forster

You should have no need to reinforce the case against "experts", a word I never use without inverted commas. We need remember only the Cleveland child abuse scandal (though how many do?) and more recently the cot-death "murders", proved beyond any doubt in the courts.
On the other hand, how can we put our trust in politicians when we see that in too many cases their opinions can be bought, and that they are willing to bribe others?
What is more, with the increasing formalisation and bureacratisation of employment laws, rules and procedures, being an MP must be one of the few careers, perhaps the only one, where there are no minimum job qualifications. In a constituency like Salford (as a random example) one needs only the "gift of the gab" to fool the local selection committee (probably not too difficult if one is also female with a passable figure) to be certain of being elected.

Posted on 7 February 2009 20:49 by Mike Spilligan

Surely your question should be, "When did Democracy give way to Corporatism?"

Please don't use Ayn Rand as a motif; she had many brilliant insights but went a little too far in my opinion. Ayn Rand tempered by the wisdom of Solomon would make a fine PM.

Posted on 8 February 2009 16:11 by Susan

If you liked Atlas Shrugged, may I suggest a book called The Driver By Garet Garrett? It's quite similar, no doubt influenced Rand. It's for free over at the mises website:
http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=search&q=the%20driver

Posted on 8 February 2009 16:48 by Martin

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