At Eton, there is this funny thing that Lower Sixth Formers (C Block in Eton lingo) do and it’s called C Perspectives. It’s effectively General Studies and comprises of 1 lesson a week as a lecture about a certain topic, such as Politics, Euthanasia, Racism and so on, and 1 lesson a week in a class discussion about that topic. It’s rather good, I think, especially with the free tea! Anyway, at certain intervals all of C Block have to write a 500 word essay on one out of a selection of essay titles. So being me, I went for the Politics title.* It hasn’t been marked, but I enjoyed writing it, so I thought I’d pass it on.
In the political landscape we find ourselves in with the infamous Duck Houses, Moat Cleaning, Phantom Mortgages, Dog Food, Adult Films, Flipping and many, many more examples of Members of Parliament delving into the murky waters of personal gain from public office, our politicians are representing us less and delving into morally grey areas.
However, how the national press reported the Expenses Scandals, it was as if this was the first time the ‘truth’ of our political system was ever discovered. Merely watch any episode of Yes, Minster to see how the political world hasn’t changed beyond recollection for at least the past 30 years. Politicians have always had to make murky deals. For example in the episode entitled “The Official Visit”, Hacker meets an old University chum, who has led a successful coup in Buranda, a fictitious British Colony, and is about to give a keynote speech the day before 3 marginally by-elections in the UK. The speech, however, calls for the Scottish people to rise up and break from English oppression. Hacker meets the new President and a deal is struck that the British Government will give Buranda a £50 million interest-free loan, in return for that embarrassing part of the speech being removed, as well as the money being used to buy oilrigs from British Docklands. This parody conveys a serious message that whatever your views, whatever your beliefs, whatever your ideals, there is no escaping compromise and underhand deals.
In this vein, if we examine the Obama Administration as it stands, he has predictably not been able to stop Osama Bin Laden, cease Iran’s Nuclear Programme or bring in the vital changes to the American healthcare system, as some of his more vocal supporters suggested would happen. It was naïve to place Obama on a Messiah-esque level. One man cannot put politics and diplomacy to one side; it takes a huge amount of time and effort to achieve what a politician wants to achieve. To achieve what you want to achieve requires persuading people it’s a good idea, either through debate or other, less acceptable, means. On a wider point, all politicians, with perhaps the exception of the end of limited term of office, such as the second term of an American President, want and need to be re-elected. This means they have to try and pass the policies they promised; and therefore it inevitably means they have to persuade others to their cause through underhand deals.
However, what about a world where Diplomacy is straightforward and legislation that would genuinely be good for the country is passed, and those that would be detrimental are not? The simple answer is that such a world will never exist with humans involved. We, by our very nature, are selfish beings who seek to control and to have power. As the immortal saying goes: “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
I promise that’s the last essay for a bit…!
*The Politics lecture, for those interested was given by Lord Waldergrave, Provost at Eton and Conservative Minister in the Thatcher/Major Era
