Someone needs to tell the Independent Group that the end of history has been cancelled

I often smile when they're caught 'with their hands in the till', and the de rigueur response is 'I made a mistake'. But the 'mistake' is always in their favour, never the reverse.

 

You can be technically incorrect, morally incorrect and lawless. And still get a pass.

I don't really agree.

With organised crime we expect pillage, plunder, murder, mayhem and worse. And we get it.

With private enterprise we expect greed and avarice and the purposeful bending of rules and laws. And we get it.

But with public servants paid from the public purse we are right to expect minimum standards are kept and upheld.

With our armed services and police forces we expect them to serve the nation. And we largely get it.

With nurses, doctors and health professionals we expect them to offer their best hippocratic efforts to bring relief and healing. And largely we get that.

We expect our political class to work for the public good, to pass laws that specifically benefit the people of the nation. We rarely get that. Instead they work to serve their own interests and of those of others; other nations who pay them, other bodies that pay them, other businesses that pay them. But their greed knows no bounds as they also engage in fraudulent expenses claims from the taxpayer.

In Parliament, it is the tradition for members to refer to each other as "Honourable" or "Right Honourable" (if they are a privy councillor). They elevate and arm themselves with this fake respect -- because they also know no one else would consider doing so based on the available evidence.

 

And that sums up Communism.
It's harder to be corrupt in liberal democracy, not impossible,
just harder.
And yes, SOME people get away with it, like the current
President of Israel. I suspect that some who do 'get away with
it' do so in our society because they have 'political capital' -
meaning people feel they are doing a good job and don't
really care if they fudge their travel expense or had a lover
on the side. The Kennedy's were like that.

I like the idea of calling a parliamentarian 'honorable' because
its the office, not the bearer. I recall that Sir Isaac Newton was
elected to parliament. The only word he is said to have uttered
was that someone should open a window as it was hot. Why
was he in office? Because people held it in esteem. Esteem
means you get good people. To ridicule the office leads to the
slow demise of the office - and then we are back to kings and
queens, or priests, or a Robespierre or even Paris Commune
Then you will have something to complain about.

 

You keep uncrossing and recrossing your legs in an undignified way and it means I can look right up your trope. And it's not pretty either.

And you learned this where? The Mickey Mouse class of free markets? Feel free to evidence it if you can. And good luck with that too. But I suspect this claim will sink into oblivion too - because it just ain't true.

Fudge? What are you a salesman for Apologetic-R-Us?

[/quote]I like the idea of calling a parliamentarian 'honorable' because
its the office, not the bearer. I recall that Sir Isaac Newton was
elected to parliament. The only word he is said to have uttered
was that someone should open a window as it was hot. Why
was he in office? Because people held it in esteem. Esteem
means you get good people. To ridicule the office leads to the
slow demise of the office - and then we are back to kings and
queens, or priests, or a Robespierre or even Paris Commune
Then you will have something to complain about.[/QUOTE]

I thought you were an Oz but you actually seem to be a Yank? In Oz "honorable" is surely spelled "honourable" in the English way isn't it?

Presumably because you're unable to come up with a contemporary Brit politician who is honourable you have decided to turn the clock back to the Elizabethan era - only 450 odd years ago - to find a truly honourable MP. Which more or less proves my point, I think. Meanwhile, you go ahead and feel honour to an ancient theoretical "office" as you wish. I fell far more compelled to focus on the current and recent incumbents... because I live in the present and not in a mythical past.

Besides that I have to agree that Newton was a cool guy. He was a passionate practising Alchemist and a Hermeticist who translated the Emerald Tablet and, quite likely, was a member of the Rosicrucian Order. As Michael Caine used to say: "not many people know that."

 

I have kinda felt this way about a lot of the EU for a while now.

They just seem SO authoritarian and all of their "heresies" are only driven towards the Right end of the political spectrum. It basically reminds me of what Progressives are trying to do here in the US, however are simply unable to gain support to do.

Europe right now though is still moving pretty steadily in a Rightward drifting direction, hopefully it goes back to being more liberal overall.