power to the people, give the electors power over the elected.
This mighty promise went by a name, a name that summed up its propose and its power.
RECALL
The ability for an electorate to recall their member of parliament and force them to stand again in their
constituency, a way to remove hated politicians, to throw out men and women who no longer represented
the will of the people and instead served only themselves. Or perhaps who now bought shame to their
electorate by deeds most foul.
Recall they named it. A restoration of democracy, a promise of a bright future where MPs would be
accountable to the people that voted for them. The people in control once more. An end to unaccountable
oligarchs.
But that was long ago, the mists of time are deep and thick and all but impenetrable and so promises fade and
are lost. It is the doom of men that they forget, and it is the hope of politicians that men forget.
But promises have a way of lingering, the spirit of hope lives on in the dark and secret corners, people remember
the hopes they had when the promise was made.
Politicians, con men and liars seek to destroy all evidence of their words, false promises, lies, deceptions, all
evidence must be hidden or lost. But it is not so easy to destroy the past be it good or bad.
People remember. Technology remembers. The deepest reaches of the web remember everything and those
brave enough or foolish enough to venture into those Stygian depths can find, what they seek.
The minions of Dave or the spiders of Google may try to hide the truth but all they will do is deny it to those
who lack the skill to search, misdirection, lies, hiding the truth, the tools of politics and of giant search engines
alike but the truth is out there and it can be found.
So it is that we remember and we have evidence. We remember Recall. We remember that for years nothing
happened, that for years the promise was forgotten or ignored. The liars and the con-men and the politicians
pretended the words had not been spoken, the promise had not been made.
But we remembered.
So it was that we listened as the Queen spoke and so it was that hope once more filled out hearts, the words
had been spoken again. Not in some video clip later destroyed or hidden, not in some meeting as something
in passing, not in the smooth lies of a snake oil selling politician seeking election.
But as part of the queens speech, heard, witnessed , recorded.
“My ministers will introduce legislation on the recall of members of Parliament.”
There it was, Recall was back and no longer was it some vague promise, it was a commitment, words carved
into stone, something they could not avoid this time.
But there is a reason why people say “As trustworthy as a Politician's word”.
We had been promised Recall but when we looked closely, there it was, in the small print.
Yes Recall still said that if 10% of an MP’s constituents were to sign a petition against their standing MP
something would happen. The problem was that long ago in those heady days of hope we were told that
a petition by 10% of an MP’s constituents against that MP would trigger a by-election.
Now it said that if 10% of the constituents decided that enough was enough and signed a petition against
their MP it would call for a meeting of MPs would then consider if said MP had acted in a way that was
considered serious enough to merit a by-election.
Not power to the people but instead yet another smoke screen
This is, in fact, nothing new. MPs have a committee which has the power and authority to judge a sitting
MP and if required take punitive action against them. But they very rarely do.
Because what we in the world consider to be unacceptable, abhorrent, corrupt, an MP considers business
as usual. Graft, corruption, sexual harassment. For decades a Lib Dem MP was rumoured and reported to
be a paedophile, sexually assaulting children. Yet this was covered up and hidden, not worthy of rocking
the gravy trough.
Deeds that appall us peasants and peons are considered normal for those who lord over us. The Oligarchs
stand for election, hide the truth, publish lies and hide behind spin doctors and marketing agents till the
annoying part is done and they are safe for another term. Once those votes are cast it is too late, we are
stuck with them for years to come.
No matter how bad things may be, hunger in the streets, every increasing cost of living, eat or heat, more
and more below a liveable income, the MPs look after each other.
Them and us and we were foolish enough, just for a while, to think that there was hope and that we, the
masses, would regain some measure of power over those who were supposed to represent us.
More fools us.
Until such a time that our political class is shattered and dumped in the gutter to live the lives that they
condemn all too many people to we will see no change. As long as we continue to allow the Oligarchs to
rule over us like lords of old there will be no change.
As long as we have tribal voting, safe seats and the same system where people of a limited social group
who attend the same schools and know the same friends and have the same attitudes there will be no
change.
As long as the only qualification a politician needs is to be a politician, to have left the right school and
university and to have done the right jobs in a political office, to have spread the lies and hidden the
truth and to have kissed the right backsides to get to a place where they can become an MP there will
be no change.
Keep the proles happy, give them the illusion that they are in control, entertain them with mindless drivel
on television, edit their news so they never know the truth. Keep them controlled, keep them docile, never
let them realise that there is no real choice between political parties, one is more nasty, one is more
incompetent, one is more inconsequential. But they are otherwise much the same.
Look at them, the same suits, the same faces, the same hair, the same lies.
How hard is it to tell them apart, these members of the political class, stamped out by the same system,
cloned in the same vats, shaped by the same attitudes and filled with the same contempt for the masses,
the scum, the proles, the annoying mob that bay outside their windows.
So we have the likes of Recall. Once a beacon of hope, now nothing more than another illusion, another lie.
Another trick to keep the mob quiet.
Recall is not hope, it is not democracy or accountability or a way to keep the MPs in line. It is a tool to keep
the restive population in line.
Same old same old. It’s a politician and his lips are moving so it must be a lie.