Hiya,
Here in the UK the present coalition government has an awful lot of hard decisions to make to put the economy back on track. I guess it's the same everywhere (except in good 'ole Oz apparently!).
So part of their 'fair play' politics is to get the people involved in what cuts are to be made. Hmmm, we can go on a government website called 'YouChoose' and fiddle with the council tax in our area until we're happy with the cuts we've made to the services that are provided.
Trouble is, and I'm all for taking personal responsibility, BUT, the average person on the street is not qualified to choose where and how to spend billions of pounds of public money any more than they're able by consensus to tell a general how to fight a war. The people in those jobs are trained and qualified to do that. Maybe they're not all as good as each other but surely they're better than most of the rest of us.
This sounds more like some parlour trick of the government making it look like we The People are actually involved in the process. When in actual fact if any of it is taken on board they can blame US if things don't work out too well - well you did make the choices for your area they'll say. These were the cuts you decided on.
No! Government is there to govern, not take a roll call every time they think they might need a few more street cleaners. Can you imagine, the whole bloody thing would come to a standstill.
I say take responsibility - always, so excuse me government, you were voted in to govern, so govern.
What say you - The People?
for now
Be Inspired
Stu
If you like this you'll probably like my other blog:
http://thechangeyourlifeblog.wordpress.com
Hi Stu
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting conversation. Being an Australian living in the UK I have to admit it does hurt when I find my family are earning 6.4% on their savings today when here we are are pushed to get 1%. However other things have skyrocketed in Australia... food for example and housing. Rental prices have more than doubled along with taxes and new laws it is definitely becoming less 'free'. Freedom is a big thing for Australians - maybe because we started as a penal colony hehe.
Here in the UK I do find council tax hard to swallow. I know that we have it in Australia but it is included in other things so we never hear that we are paying council tax but we do - on average just a bit more than £1000 a year.
We also obviously pay for water but it is never broken down to include 'sewerage' on our bills. We also don't pay TV licences in Australia either... but again it is included in other things... so we still pay for it. So it leaves the question 'Is it better to know what your paying for or would we prefer to think that our government is 'nice'?'
I do not engage in politics though. I am one of those people that don't vote and have been told on many occassions that if you don't vote you don't get a say... To which I always simply reply 'Really'.
I don't like to sound cynical but I am not entirely convinced that we ever do.
Anyhoo *steps off soapbox* ;)
Many Blessings,
Julieanne
Until we collectively think of a better system we're stuck with what is probably the best we have! Thanks for the comment Julianne. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree... I do like to dream about The Venus Project though... Although I do think it is a dream. There is a group in the forum with more about that if you're interested. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Hmm, sounds intiguing - do you have a link to it? Stu
ReplyDelete