We ignore them at our peril

In a democracy probably the most important moment is when the votes are counted and the picture begins to emerge of who is to form a government or take control of a council.

Watching the results of the council elections across the country one is struck by the dichotomy which runs through society. On the one hand the busy, involved people who do the legwork for the constituency member. On polling night they are there throughout the night supporting the results as they are revealed, applauding their man or woman as the numbers are announced. They have worked tirelessly through the previous weeks knocking on doors in good or bad weather, taking the rough with the smooth as people react to being called away from their TV to be asked their intention on a matter which the bulk of them couldn't care less. The couldn't care less brigade are especially prominent when the election is not for the government of the country but simply to put bums on the council benches where they presume the excitement is limited to refuse collection and not a wholesale political tilt of a General Election, as the ideological plates shift. The problem is that central government are relinquishing more and more powers to devolved government and increasingly also to Big Business where the 'quangos' now run huge swathes of what used to be the remit of central government.
People are becoming increasingly frustrated with politics as they see around them slippage of standards, closure of facilities, and a ever widening gap between those people, the very small minority, who are successful and the also rans.
The concept of an egalitarian  society has been dashed away as national identity has been consumed by the global culture where decisions are made in far off boardrooms, in far off countries who care little for the conditions down on the street. Brave New World where hand me downs and food banks provide the cement to keep people above water whilst the social structures which were painstakingly built up after 1945 languish due to a lack of commitment and funding. The concept of taxation, to equitably recycle the wealth and fund basic provisions for the people of a country, such as retirement homes paid out of the public purse rather than rely on the exploitation of the private sector is just one element but a crucial element as the country demographic changes. I see today that mortgages are being extended to 80 year olds !
We were on the right track and whilst I blame Margaret Thatcher for the ideological shift I blame even more our Masters of Industry in not responding to the changing industrial scene specifically in their unwillingness to invest and modernise. Short termism, cashing in the dividends and splashing out on flashy symbols of a shallow self aggrandisement.
We are where we are but I believe that specifying or ring fencing by 'statute' and not relying on a politicians manifesto to fund certain parts of the "social imperative" such as schools, healthcare, and caring for the old and infiremed each are priorities in any civilised society and we ignore them at our peril !!!