Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

FREEDOM

The joyous scenes from Baghdad have moved me greatly in recent days as an oppressed people savour the sweet taste of freedom. After the understandable frenzy and chaos of liberation, I am confident that order will slowly be restored and if wise decisions are taken, the people of Iraq will enjoy a better way of life than they have ever known.

But what about us? Do we still celebrate our freedom from tyranny and cherish our democracy? There will shortly be local elections and my guess is that the turnout will be very low indeed, maybe less than 25%, even though we will be electing people who will make important decisions about our vital public services. Only one in four of us will bother to take a short walk or drive to the nearby polling station to put a cross in a box.

The turn out at the last general election was 59%, meaning four out of ten people did not find the time to vote to choose a government that takes massive decisions over our lives every moment.

Over centuries our democratic framework has slowly evolved to give us the rights and liberties we enjoy today. Twice in the last century, people died to protect our democracy; only eighty years ago, women had to lay their lives on the line to gain the right to vote. But we are in grave danger of taking it for granted.

I readily accept that the body politic, aided and abetted by the cynical national media, has played its part in all this. We politicians have not always behaved as we should have done, and I do not blame people for feeling alienated. But the fact remains that the British political system remains one of the most corruption free and transparent anywhere in the world. Most people at Westminster and in the town halls are genuinely well intentioned and doing their best. Democracy, Churchill said, is the least effective form of government, apart from all the others.

If we are not careful, we will see the lifeblood of our precious freedoms slowly ebb away. It is all very simple: the people vote to elect a government, whether local or national, and if they do not like what they do or say, they can vote them out and give others a go. However you vote, please exercise your democratic responsibility on 1st May 2003.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, April 24, 2003