Why aren't 'we' in politics?

I once enquired about standing as a PPC (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate) - went to an informative day and read everything. Then I decided I wouldn't fit what was required. I didn’t give much thought to anyone else feeling the same until today when I read this:

From Charlotte Gore
“Amongst the many reasons why I would make a terrible PPC my personal favourite is this blog. Oh, it’ll take a day or so, but any campaign run by me could be derailed very quickly by finding a few choice quotes. Charlotte Gore wants to axe the welfare state! Charlotte Gore wants to cut spending! Charlotte Gore is pro Business and anti Union! Charlotte Gore wants to legalise drugs! Charlotte Gore thinks the BNP should be allowed on television! That’s just the start of it. There’s enough in this blog to kill any political career one hundred times over.

So stand? I think not. It’s not for me, this life of trying to appeal to ‘people’. If I did, I’d write a letter and deliver it to every single house in the constituency. The letter would go like this:

Dear Halifax,
I’m looking for someone. It might be you. It might be someone you know. This is someone who’s sick of politicians and sick of mainstream politics. That’s most of us these days, and who could blame us?

The person I’m looking for gets angry that the Government takes £10 billion pounds - more than twice as much as the once mighty HBOS ever earned before tax - from cigarette duties alone. They get furious that £30 worth of petrol includes £20 of tax… and for what? This person feels ill when they discover the Government is now spending more than the entire British population takes home in wages, and they ask: For what? Where is the money going?

This person looks around and sees a country brought to its knees, surviving only on loans from the rest of the world. This person knows that Halifax’s biggest employer is the council, and it makes this person angry to think that a town that was at the very heart of the industrial revolution could be sunk so low as to survive only on scraps from the Government table. This person thinks we should be better than this.

But that’s not all. The person I’m looking for looks around and sees a country where trainspotters - of all people - are arrested under anti-terrorism laws and where it has become illegal to take photographs of the police. They see a Government determined to censor the internet, to monitor their emails and internet use. They see more and more rules and laws telling people how they should live and behave: Don’t eat. Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t drive. Don’t say this. Don’t say that. Don’t vote for them. This person thinks Governments are supposed to be servants of the people, not the other way around.

If you see this person, will you pass on a message? I’d be very grateful. The message is this: “You are missed. Please come back.”

Yours Sincerely,

Charlotte Gore”
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I too have strong opinions that wouldn't look great as headlines. After reading Charlotte's exceptional words, I happily realise that someone else feels exactly the same. I would also vote for Charlotte to be in a position of influence - in a heartbeat.

I want politicians who speak my language, have flaws, are imperfect ...because imperfect is real and real reflects truth.

I am fed up with pretend and my head is filled frequently with the image of the shouting man in that movie (Network?) who releases everything with "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it!"

I'm mad as hell that we are all living lives that are a mere shadow of what they should be, if our resources were better managed.

If families were run the way politicians run our nation- charges of abuse and neglect would follow. The government takes our precious funds and instead of spending them wisely (for the benefit of 'we the people') on health, education, care for the elderly and the bettering of life... squanders them on futile waste after futile waste.

It isn't even the party that is solely to blame - it is the system. The system is populated by those who reached positions of power by NOT putting OUR interests first. These are the ones who 'make it' in politics.

If it weren't for the fact that I refuse to back away from the struggle to get good government for the sake of future generations that include my daughter and granddaughter – I would give up, look away and get lost in distraction.

I can’t back down; so instead, fill with the arguments to all the bad decisions made in government that will affect my life so very severely. I need to do something.

A focus - a point of truth, to pour all this sincere determination into is needed… just don’t know where it is or if I will recognise it if it does.

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Note of thanks to Mark Thompson for leading the way to the post :)