As politicians of different shades politely congratulate each other following the election, political leaders are trying to balance their political aspirations with expressions of respect for the democratic expression of public will.
The outcome of the election may not have been ideal for the political elite, but voters have again refused (rather than “failed”, a shamefully condescending term) to give any particular party Absolute Power. This time, though, the allocation of parliamentary seats reflects that refusal. How refreshingly democratic!
So how is this democratic coup being welcomed by the British press? In the main, it is not. The tone of our most esteemed commentators indicates some kind of constitutional crisis. We are faced with a dangerous – even terrifying – situation, verging on a threat to national security. The “eyes of the nation” are focused on three political leaders who are struggling to overcome that awkward thing called democracy!
The driving force behind this urge to triumph over democracy is not just the unquenchable thirst for power on the part of the political elites. So too, we are told, the mystical, intangible, soulless guardians of power, “the markets” are “worried”.
Markets’ “concern” over a democratic outcome can be read off stock market drops of 2.6 percent – ending the worst week a year, and exchange rate drops, with the pound sliding against the Euro and the Dollar.
The market doesn’t like slow, deliberative, consensual decision-making; it can do without democracy thank you.
What we need, we are told, is “strong” government – as Italy and Germany understood so clearly in the 1920s and 1930s. Otherwise the markets that brought about the economic crisis will be devoid of the requisite confidence that government will allow them to do it again!
We need a strong government to ensure that the poorest sections of society, the health system and universities pay for the bankers’ crisis.
Yet even with this knowledge, we have failed to vote to establish a strong, forceful and unrepresentative government, and the markets – those harbingers of “freedom” – are punishing us for our democratic decision-making.
The markets have no appreciation for the fact that we have avoided what the Conservative Peer, Lord Acton, long ago referred to as an “elected dictatorship”.
What a thought! A government and a parliament that is not the expected result of a rotten electoral system funded by dirty money; policies that are not the expression of single-minded self-referential party controlled by the iron grip of the party whips; political decision-making that is not pandering to a tiny minority of swing voters whose fickle nature strikes fear into the heart of party apparatchiks.
What is so scary about a government that has to reach consensus from a cross-section of society and a range of political opinion? What level of threat is there from three political leaders trying to determine what areas of agreement there might be to form the basis of a government? How fearful should 60% of voters be that for the first time in decades their votes actually count?
What a crisis! What a “failure” of democracy!
Mediations and politics 