There is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of Coalition thinking which the left is failing to clearly define; an unenunciated contradiction which - as a consequence - is serving to confuse us all.
On the one hand, Cameron & Co don't believe in a benefits society and - instead - claim to believe in what we might term an initiative society. On the other hand, however, their sponsors are massive corporate institutions - accustomed to a ready supply of wage slaves who know their place and are accustomed to staying put. So whilst the government suggests in its spin we should all become entrepreneurs, the reality is that in its policy it is orientated towards making labour cheaper and more plentiful - that is to say, anything but entrepreneurial.
If my thesis is right, the benefits mentality isn't even primarily engendered by the state but, rather, by the millions upon millions of workers who spend their lives ensconced in a corporate cocoon of bonuses, pensions, career ladders and perks.
And if that's not a benefits society, I really don't know what is.
In a perfect Coalition world, what the Tories and their supporters are looking to achieve - then - is a) for no one to claim benefits; b) for the privileged to maintain their position as entrepreneurs at the top of the hierarchical pyramid; and c) for the wage slaves to earn just enough to keep them content, politically neutered and docile - as well as out of the horrified public view which some mainstream media, even under such a regime of political duplicity, are still currently prepared to contemplate.
And until the left is able to reveal this reality in a punchy and convincing way, the dissonance created by naked "do as I say, not as I do" politics - visible primarily on the right end of the spectrum but with an increasingly hearty support on the left - will continue to leave the progressives falling violently between two stools.
Two stools which are allowing the Coalition to get away with ruddy murder.
0 thoughtful fixes:
Post a Comment
Me: I love receiving comments and feedback and always try and answer constructively. So go on then - fire away!
You: please don't post marketing links of any kind. Anything which makes me wonder if you're trying to drive traffic to your business will just mean I remove your comment. As one blogger famously said: "Mods are gods!"