-
We've realised, for the most part, that political parties based on the idea of making things worse for people we don't like don't improve our lives much less than parties based on the idea of making things better for everyone.
I don't think I understand this, could you please explain?
exteroceptive-
Well (and this goes to @hurricane_run's point too) in the UK our leaders since Cameron have focussed on making things worse for ideological enemies - 'benefit scroungers', immigrants, asylum seekers, the EU, people on long term sick, remoaners, metropolitan liberal elites, the national trust, etc.
What these kinds of politicians offer is not a positive offer: "we will make your life better". It's it's a negative offer: "we will punish the people you don't like". For leaders like Trump and Johnson, that comes with a side order of 'especially if you let me get away with pursuing my own grim personal agenda in the meantime' but that's not a necessary component.
But the key bit is that because we were so early doors on a lot of this right wing flood the zone culture war shit, I think we've collectively begun to realise that while it might be an entertaining diversion to have a two minute hate when you're comfortable, it's scant consolation when you can't get a doctors appointment, your kids can't afford their mortgage if they're lucky enough to have one, and your elderly parents are dying in a drafty NHS corridor. I wonder if the US would be considering giving Trump another term if he'd managed to win another one the first time and presided over the kind of recession we've ended up with.
I wouldn't say we'd woken up and smelt the coffee. But there does seem to be a bit of a feeling in the air that the people who spearheaded this kind of stuff and seemed to have some momentum a few years ago, don't really anymore. They have a hardcore following that's getting harder, but it's also shrinking - there's no novelty in it, it's just Reform supporting swivel eyed pub bores who'll never be satisfied with any concession.
Shame we had to leave the EU to realise it tho.
-
We've realised, for the most part, that political parties based on the idea of making things worse for people we don't like don't improve our lives much less than parties based on the idea of making things better for everyone.
I don't think I understand this, could you please explain?
I think the second "don't" is probably erroneous - hangover from changing draft between "don't improve our lives" and "improve our lives much less" if I had to guess.
ReekBlefs
jsabine
I think it's both, but I'd always rather a lucky general than a good one. Theresa May wasn't exactly setting the world on fire with her charisma and ability but we still managed to trail her for most of her premiership.
I think the real thing that's changed is that we as a society have undergone a shift. We've realised, for the most part, that political parties based on the idea of making things worse for people we don't like improve our lives much less than parties based on the idea of making things better for everyone. It's one of those epochal shifts.
I was there in 1997, first election I could vote in. The country feels the same. We're sick of it. We may not be excited about Starmer the way some of us were about Blair, but we are actively scared of / hostile to Sunak and his pals, and as a country we are just tired and bored and exhausted by it.