Democracy - American style

You have to wonder about American zeal to be different and so convinced about their God given righteousness.
They export their concept of democracy to nations across the globe and claim an almost messianic belief in their own righteousness. 

President Obama having, in terms of the popular vote just squeezed back into power, beating the plastic imagery of Mit Romney and the enormous wealth of the Republican Party. This is the democracy the US expounds. A democracy that uses wealth as the most powerful tool to manipulate the minds of the voter. That funds TV stations such as Fox to supply a never ending diet of scurrilous misinformation and personal vitriol. That has a political implanted Supreme Court, dependent on the party in power to enlist Judges with the convictions to suit the party in power. A legal system that accepts the ignominious Guantanmamo Bay as a short cut to Justice so it can detain people without trial for periods of years. This is a democracy that fights tooth and nail to avoid voting the money to provide a large section of its population with the basic security of health care. A society that is reminded again and again of the danger of allowing its citizens to arm themselves to the teeth with weapons that should only see the light of day in the battlefield.

Obama has to unlock the veto the the House has to prevent the Presidential manifesto that the people have voted for. Of course in this election 50% of the population has not voted for the manifesto and we are in for deadlock when we need it least.

People talk highly of Obamas ability to motivate through his speeches but I have to admit his delivery puts me off. It is slow and broken into formulaic statements rather than a discursive flow which would engage me.   I suppose its what he says that is important !!             

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Things might go wrong !!!

The report of Bradley Wiggins being knocked off his bike the other day followed by the potentially more serious accident to the coach of the medal winning UK cycling team.
How can a consummate bike rider like Wiggins be involved in such an accident and what hope for the rest of us who are, or are considering, taking up cycling.
My background is one of many miles spent on a bike with only one accident when, like a fool I cut a corner whilst racing a friend down a narrow road. A car coming the other way with no where to go dealt me an object lesson I never forgot.



My teenager years, often astride a bike were truly wonderful, spent outdoors, in and amongst the Yorkshire Dales either cycling, walking, rock climbing or tentatively, pot holing, for which I never truly enjoyed, being marginally effected by claustrophobia, not a weakness to endear one to a tight squeeze through a dark underground passage hundreds of feet underground !!

To meet ones cycling friends on a Sunday morning outside the Lister Park Gates in Bradford, 20 of us, two abreast we set off winding through the small satellite towns to Skipton and the open country beyond. The chatter between us, the fresh air, the exhilaration of feeling fit and alive, on top of our game not to make money, not to wish for fame and fortune but to acknowledge the youthful pleasure in being alive, free to go where I wished so long as I confined myself to what I could do given my own ability.
The roads were uncluttered, with few cars, the rocky outlets relatively free of people and of course "health and safety" was a personal concept which we termed, simply "common sense".

We acknowledge the importance of where and to whom we were born. The accident of birth is sufficient to provide us with (and this has a steep gradient depending to whom)  a roof over our head, good food, a good education, job opportunities and so on. But what about the era into which you were born ?
I feel privileged to have lived and enjoyed my childhood years with parents who whilst having little material wealth gave me the wealth of a different kind. Music, literature and the space I needed to grow and develop my own character. All the risky endeavours, climbing, pot holing, climbing trees even the embryonic first night spent in a tent about 5 miles away from home, next to a pond in the corner of a farmers field when we were only 11/12 years old. My poor old Mom must have had kittens but with my Dads guidance, I was allowed to cope with what ever came my way.

How different the culture now with fear that things "might go wrong" predominating and colouring their ability to let go.                  

Fairness and entitlement

My thoughts are not noble they are based on what I would call fairness. What does this word "fair" mean and why should we strive for it
Of course you are right, entitlement is a tricky concept. Is the person who lives in a remote rural village entitled to clean water, medical assistance,ect ect.  

In a remote primeval forest in the middle of Borneo clearly the concept of a shared entitlement is limited by the structure and the interaction across the populous and its governmental stretch.

In a country like South Africa there is a 
reasonable expectation that fundamental 
services should,reach across the nation and 
the nation set aside resources to make this 
happen.


In much more integrated societies like the USA and Europe it is now taken for granted that certain standards have a place in our estimation of that society and respectively in the way the people living in that society expect to benefit from the economic engine. Jobs, minimum wages rules regarding employment including the rights of the employed whilst they are employed.
The fact that many of these societies are in trouble, financially, obviously effects the ability to maintain the benefits that accrue to those, not living in Borneo !!



The economic engine needs many inputs not least from the common man. If only the likes of Lloyd Blankfein could manage without the man who puts his car together,mends the road he uses on his way into the office,produces the light bulb to light his way into the office, pay the guard who secures his working papers,and even the out of sight cleaner who sees that his waste paper basket is emptied. He relies on them and they rely on him.  The difference of course is in his reward for his contribution to the money go round.  There has been an unacceptable widening of the gap between the ordinary worker and the men and women at the top.


Apart from inherited wealth, in the 60/70s, the top management pay across the board compared to their employees was in the region of 5 times. In the 80s, 10 times. 
In the 90s, 15 times. Today the multiplier is 200. 
This is outrageous and has distorted everyone's concept of what is fair !!!!

If, as you say, we must claw back on entitlement, lets start with Mr Blankfein.  
             

The bullied have become the bullies

I was watching a program this morning on the BBC which epitomises the quality of this often maligned broadcaster.
We often take for granted our surroundings and the constituent parts that can and often do, affect our lives. Complacency is the norm when things in general are found to be in balance. It takes loss or subjugation to make us re-evaluate the things and the people around us, to make us take a grip on who we are or would like to become. To learn from others, is to add to the sum of our knowledge and the more we know the better armed we become to understand events as they unfurl in our lives.
The program is a discussion program where people debate issues, largely on moral or religious attitudes that society wrestles with. I find the complex beliefs and the attitudes that, sensible, balanced people have, rewarding since it enriches my own experience.

The subject matter today included, amongst other things, comments made by the Roman Catholic Archbishop about Gay and Lesbians. The Archbishop had been branded a bigot by Stonewall, the Gay and Lesbian movement.
The verbal and intellectual tussle between a Bishop in the Church of England, a Journalist who was Gay and spoke for Stonewall and a women who was the Editor of a Catholic Newspaper. Each was perfectly at home in their belief even though they were diametrically opposed to each other. Each argument had some validity and much was gained by the tone of the debate.

This country has undergone, if one listens to the media representatives, a transformation in the attitudes towards so many issues.
The attitude to the criminal punishment system.   The concept of marriage and child rearing.   Masculinity/femininity in all its form and competitive interplay.    Racial issues abound and bleed to the surface in the football arena, with the players and the crowd howling their opinion.     
Sexuality which largely defines each genders role in the cycle of procreation, a definition derided by a relatively small segment of society, who demand equality and would wish for us to believe, they are different but normal ?

Many of these issues have been given a good coating of media time over recent years, as the Politically Correct Intelligentsia have bombarded any view that differed from their own by a torrent of invective with the use of words like bigot and homophobic.

Years ago the policy on these issues was very much a reaction to unfair attitudes by the majority towards minorities and were necessary.

Today the bullied have become the bullies.  They choke off dissent and unhesitatingly belittle any opposition.
It is usual for the media, the Westminster bubble, the chattering classes to claim that there is unanimity today, across the populous in its support for much of the Political Correct Agenda.
My own experience is the opposite, with that much maligned, "man in the street", strongly opposed to the changes that are trumpeted by the Establishment.         

No meat on the bone

I bought a book on the currency crisis in Germany in the 1920s.   It certainly made grim reading particularly when one considers the similarities between our current monetary problems and the ones the book concerns its self with.
Today there are no "war reparations", but the imbalance in the "current account", with deficits (reparations to sovereign paymasters) paid for out of "current borrowings", without the hope of offsetting the debt through "foreign earnings" obtained by exports is a receipt for disaster. 


We, like Germany, are printing money on a mammoth scale to hide the imbalance and in effect devaluing our currency against all other currencies. This wouldn't be so bad if we produced any of the goods we consume but we buy "everything" on the foreign market and, as we devalue, this import bill goes up and up.
Germany maintained full employment and conceded to union driven wage increases which cushioned the price increases for a section of society. The UK has the "Welfare State" which artificially also deceives us as to the dire straits we are in.  For how long can we keep maintaining this welfare blanket without the tax base of full employment ?        
In Germany the stark contrast in the lives of the currency speculators (today's Goldman Sacks),or the ones able to invoice their way to move money into other currencies was the virus that infected the general population to choose extreme leaders such as Hitler and his Nationalistic solutions.


Our democratic notion of fair play, of equality, of everyone shouldering the load will break apart if the overt sight of Bankers bonuses, and Oligarchs vying with each other for ever larger yachts. Will another Fascist party conquer the hearts and minds of the people of Europe ?

Another major similarity is the growth of money.  Money used to be based on something !!  Gold. Assets, held within a country. GDP. Today it is based on nothing !!!  No one has any control on its growth since its growth is based on an artificial concept. Money is an entry in, if you will, an international journal that grows every-time a bank creates a loan. Every transaction, every mortgage that is granted adds to the money account entry and in a debt laden world this has passed from millions,to billions to many trillions, an amount that far out weighs the total assets of the whole world. Scary and growing !!!

Imagine, we now trade, useing super fast computers in nano seconds, on minute variances within the complex financial structures that cover the world. This is a trade with no sense or morality other than to make money for an exclusive few. It benefits society not a jot since even the profits are reinvested in nano seconds and exist only to bolster the banks outward sense of security in terms of their balance sheet. 
There is no meat on the bone !!!!!!!          
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Twenty20 not Hindsight.

I've been watching the Champions League Twenty 20. A beautiful day in Cape Town, not a cloud in the sky with the mountain sitting regally in the background.


It is a strange emotion knowing the area so well having lived much of my productive life in South Africa, remembering so many of my most happy memories.
The lifestyle is so different, the mind set contrasts the the European from many points of view and watching the cricket brings home the best aspect of living there.


The Highvelt Lions are playing the Chennai Super Kings. 
I wonder what will become of these events as the worlds financial debacle plays its self out. The West, including the "States", is bankrupt.  Perhaps the Indians will extend cricket vouchers to the traditional nations to allow them to swap food coupons for travel coupons 

The sun is setting behind the mountain and the light is stepping aside for the night to envelope all the beauty. Night engenders a different sense of opportunity, the opportunity now is handed to the people of the night who we fear will take it into their heads that what is mine, is as much there's especially if I find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The onus has passed from the joy of being in one of the most beautiful parts of the world to questioning what one can do to remain safe. 

The night changes everything it imbues in all of us a primitive fear of the unknown. In darkness lies the unknown, in the shadows lie the demons of our imagination which debilitate us and demolish much of  
                                                                    our self esteem.

The cricket in South Africa has drawn relatively poor audiences compared to the sub-continent where much of the short game is so popular. I wonder if the Provincial game is as highly contested as it used to be. The country would be polarised when the competition drew a The Cape v Transvaal audience with everyone having their favourites.
I think the "Marketing" people ruined the public's internalised support system when they changed the names of geographically recognised teams and gave each team a silly tokenistic name.



Geography plays such an important part in the history of the country, the geography was so important and in many ways, the areas were an imprint of historical events that identified the people who forced events many years ago. 
To shift the imagery of a team drawn from remnants of the English immigrants set against the descendants of the Boer community living in The OFS or Northern Transvaal was crass and stupid.

Other than for the Politically Correct Brigade !!!!!                     

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Change but no change

 The issue of Scottish Independence is slowly resolving itself one way or the other !
For 300 years the union of England and Scotland has provided a common bond that was largely missing between other neighbouring countries in Europe. The link that the Euro zone provided was, in many ways very similar but was imposed and not organic. The violent battles that are part of our history were evidence of the power struggle between the land owners and the contestants for the English Throne. Eventually the penny dropped and sharing of power, based on a government sitting in London with special representation for the particular needs of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish people was agreed.

The United Kingdom is, as are most countries, based on an amalgam of people, clans living within a boarder that designates a country and gives the country a name and a sense of unity. Of course much of the unity can be paper thin, the clans finding it difficult  to accept hegemony.  It is a fact that people in Wales, people in the North of Ireland and people in Scotland often resent the English who, in the past have not shown much consideration for their neighbours. 

The political class in any country feels the need to be "unconstrained" as it attempts to meet the local need for which its politic is designed. Devolution, the loosening of the ties and the granting of power was started in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with the creation of their own Parliament and elections.

Of course Alec Salmon has moved the goal posts further in asking for a vote on full separation of powers and in so doing claiming full independence,except of course he isn't.  The question of sheltering under the umbrella of the UK armed forces, remaining within the sterling area which in essence means that decisions taken by the Bank of England will effect Scotland, they want to remain under allegiance to the Queen (what ever that means). 

Listening to the Scottish Nationalist Party, they project the importance of "change" with the advocacy of "no change" !!





The political class in Scotland and Wales have a closer relationship with "their people" than the English.    Empire and the weight of Private Education distances the ruling class in England from the bulk of the voting public as evidenced by the ever growing gulf that grows between the top 2% and the rest of us.