Is the UK a democracy? or a demockeryacy?
Simple answer is ‘No’ it is not a democracy and never has been. See if you agree?
The definition of democracy
The ancient Greeks were the first to create a democracy. The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words that mean people (demos) and rule (kratos). Democracy is the idea that the citizens of a country should take an active role in the government of their country and manage it directly or through elected representatives. In addition, it supports the idea that the people can replace their government through peaceful transfers of power rather than violent uprising or revolution. Thus, a key part of democracy is that the people have a voice.
The first known democracy in the world was in Athens. Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century B.C.E. The Greek idea of democracy was different from present-day democracy because, in Athens, all adult citizens were required to take an active part in the government. If they did not fulfil their duty they would be fined and sometimes marked with red paint. The Athenian definition of “citizens” was also different from modern-day citizens: only free men were considered citizens in Athens. Women, children, and slaves were not considered citizens and therefore could not vote.
The definition of a citizen
A legally recognised subject or national of a State or Commonwealth, either native or naturalised; eg a British citizen.
Voting
Let me begin with voting, the people voting, the electorate if you will. In the UK people are encouraged to vote. Sometimes, they are persuaded to vote, sometimes subtly sometimes blatantly and sometimes discouraged altogether. Nevertheless, it is not mandatory to vote; yet some people see that as an exemplar of our democracy. Many countries mandate and even punish people for not voting. Are these [countries] not democratic or less democratic?
A question: do you believe in marketing, do you believe it is effective, in other words can people be persuaded? That is an important concept to carry with you. Have a look in your pantry, your fridge your wardrobe and tell me marketing doesn’t influence you!
First reflection
Whatever, we believe we know for certain that we do not adhere to the original Greek concept of democracy and we believe that UK democracy participation is an option. Although an option, the vote is our ‘opportunity’ to measure, judge or give feedback to our representatives, well maybe. That is of course if we chose to vote and if we voted completely without influence.
First challenge
If voting is our opportunity to ‘speak’ to our leaders/representatives then the [2022 census] is their opportunity to speak to us, each one of us, every person, man, woman, child, able bodied, disabled, mentally ill or elderly, every single person and to qualify all you have to be is ‘alive’. By the way the census is mandatory, punishment for non-compliance is a heavy fine or in extremis imprisonment. Well, ok, that seems to be a bit of an imbalance. Perhaps we are not quite as comfortable now as we were when we started reading. Not to worry, as you may suspect, it will get worse!
Moving on
Before we look at some numbers, let’s consider the delta between those who vote and those who don’t vote. I want to talk a bit about those who vote, those who put a cross on a bit of paper once in a while; the voter.
Let’s say there are 3 categories of voter. The informed voter, the uninformed voter and the ‘out to lunch’ voter.
The informed voter reads the listens to the candidates, reads the Parties manifesto, considers in the round what is best for them, their family, their work and the community. They consider, based on past performance whether they can be trusted and cast their vote accordingly.
The uniformed voter takes their cue from the tele, MSM, their mates and probably dives into their prejudice. Past performance does not matter a jot because their belief is what they chose to believe, generally without qualification or what is popular with their pals. They want to ‘run with the pack at all costs’. They probably have never read a manifesto nor listened to a candidate nor made any attempt to inform themselves.
The ‘out to lunch’ voter is dedicated to turn up at the polling station and strut in like a celebrity. They are there for the feel of it, they want to be seen, they are important for about a minute and they look around to see who can see them. ‘Excuse me, you forgot to vote’. They are not there. Their dad voted Labour so they look down the list for Labour. They got a promotion at work so now they must vote Tory. They don’t have a clue what any of this means and they don’t want to have a clue. Their neighbour saw them approach the ‘secret’ booth so they are well pleased for a few more years.
In terms of proportions, and this is just a personal view, I would put them a third in each camp. I do not believe this behaviour is skewed towards any Party, I think it is skewed to peoples’ behaviour in a society that does not give a toss about them; ‘quid pro quo’ if you will and not a new thing. This is probably typical of an Empire.
I would postulate, of the people who vote, about a third offer a meaningful vote, loyal to the original Greek construct. The other two thirds are completely wasted, meaningless votes. More disturbingly, their votes may help to elect factions that could be harmful to communities, commerce, industry and even security of the UK and others. For example, people who have the money to invest in manipulating voters may have sinister motives such as exploitation, corruption, nepotism and tax fraud being just some of the potential interests served by manipulated voting.
The non voters fall into two categories: electorate members failing to vote and non electorate.
The electorate members failing to vote covers a range of behaviour. This can include people totally disillusioned with what is on offer, people with other things on their mind, those who simply don’t care or don’t understand, people who simply miss out because it is not important to them, in fact the list goes on on on. Clearly there is a failure to engage or impress upon these people the importance of missing out. This group aggregates to around 35 to 55% of the electorate.
The non electorate group form a very significant proportion of the citizens. The group includes young people from birth to the minimum voting age. They are all citizens, they live in the same space, they are affected by the same rules, the same restrictions and the same opportunities or lack of, perhaps not now but soon, every live one of them. Some may have missed out by as little as a day or a few hours. This can include homeless people, people in prison or enforced anonymity, couch surfers, people who have not register to vote or people with indeterminate residency. More worryingly there may be people living in fear or an abusive relationship where their choices are determined for them. There will be many others in the group. Nevertheless, this is a large group, a very large group. There is also a massive British diaspora estimated in the region of 200 million. These are people who have left the UK over generations for a wide range of reasons. Some may be escaping poverty, joblessness or even persecution. They may have preferred to remain but could find no future. They themselves have generations. Many of these people consider themselves British but they have neither the wherewithal nor the credentials to return to the UK.
I now want to look at some numbers and see where they take us. But first, I rely to an extent on a principal. Numbers are only meaningful if they are qualified. If I say 3, this is meaningless, totally non specific. If I say 3 apples, that has meaning, very clear meaning.
In terms of a qualified number, consider this. Recording your vote is a very specific, important and non-judgemental act. I may be abhorred at somebody voting Tory but if that person has decided that in their judgement that is what they want to do, then they have a complete Right to do so. If someone decides to vote Labour because they felt the candidate looked good, had a nice pair of shoes or a nice smile then I say that is a non vote, a wasted vote a meaningless vote.
In 2019 the UK had a General Election. The result was fairly unprecedented giving the Conservative Party a substantial majority. Was this a strong Conservative party or a weak Labour Party? Perhaps the following years would answer that question.
Population of the UK: 66.84 million (2019)
Total Electorate: 47,567,800
Total votes cast: 32,000,000
Total votes by major Parties: see table below
Correction factors:
(a) The Conservatives took 43% of the votes cast
(b) The Conservatives took 29.3% of the electorate
(c) The Conservatives took 20.8% of the citizens
(d) Following my logic above, the Conservatives took 7% of the meaningful votes of the people
NB 1: If I was very generous and factored in all the ‘uninformed’ voters the figure swell to 14%
NB 2: If I was to include the diaspora I could only imagine that figure dropping to single figures, perhaps small single figure
How democratic does that look, how represented does this make us feel?
Reflecting back to the original Greek definition of democracy we are somewhere between 7 and 14% democratic ie represented. Some might say, we have left plenty of room for improvement.
Final point before I leave the ‘good news’ section, these figures are skewed by region and country. The meaningful Conservative vote in Scotland is around 1 to 2% and Labour is much the same. This is extremely bad news for Labour since Scotland was the traditional heartland of Labour.
Worse?
But hold on, it is about to get worse, much worse. It almost seems impossible but consider this:
To make the point I am going to use the low figure of 7% and introduce, not the meaning of democracy but the purpose.
In a country of 50 million people we cannot have 50 million leaders so we elect a small number to represent the people. These candidates and their Party make pledges at hustings and in the manifesto and on that basis we cast our votes. While we digest that last sentence I want to go back and bold out a word ‘REPRESENT‘. You see, democracy is not about proportions it is about representation. We elect Members to represent us. Once they are selected off they go to Parliament to represents us. OK, we the people of Sometown appreciate our new MP Newguy Intown is only the choice of a very small number of people but at least he’s ‘our guy’.
‘Our guy’ arrives in Parliament and is met by our Party’s Chief Whip. So, Newguy you are here on behalf of Sometown. Very nice but let me introduce you to 2 concepts. The Whip and the 3 line Whip. Basically, in the House you sit there and shut up unless we need you. Occasionally, you will be asked to vote. The Whip will tell you, or ‘encourage you’ how to vote, this is called the Whip vote. You can make your own mind up. You are free to do as you are told so you vote the way you are told. Now, sometimes the Chief Whip will tell you it’s a 3 line whip. Again, you will be told how to vote and if one little slip, you are out of the Party, career gone, kaputt! But what about the good people of Sometown? what about them, that was a long time ago and realistically they didn’t expect you to consider them; you are now a Party Animal. In terms of % representation that has now dropped from 7% to zero! But, the good news, you are still in the Party,, for now.
Could it get any worse? Of course not – sorry, of course. Not worse, much worse. You are now in the realms of a Party Political Prostitute.
Now back to the early days of you candidacy. Remember your Campaign Manager, the guy who did all your organising? now he comes to you and says, remember all these expenses, the fees, the leaflets, the helpers, the media attention. the poster, the flyers, well that did not come from the Party per se, that was your promoter, your sponsor your Lobbyist. He/she has helped you, put you where you are and he/she also has needs. He/she has people looking to them for support, people that have helped him/her to help you and up and up the food chain. This is Quid Pro Quo. They gave your back a good scratch and now they, and the very powerful, very rich people behind them need some help from you, to help you stay where you are, if you will. This is the Pitch, and now you are in, now you are one of them, now you are their Bitch and you will get the odd bone but first you need to learn to bark.
Did it get worse? you were at 0% democracy, you are now in negative territory, one slip up and you are gone, no, more than gone, you are defamed, disgraced. The cloak of democracy has slipped off your shoulders and you stand there Naked and feeling stupid and used.
‘ok, ok, I’m coming, what do I have to say??’
….. Demockeryacy? or just pure mockery .. you decide!