Truth must be not only discovered,
but perennially rediscovered and redefined.

This blog began as a commentary on a life spent seeking fully to live. As I reflect on it today, I see it has become not only a partial record of my transition to aspiring politician, but one of many online litanies of the state of the United Kingdom today. What is to be done?

Would it help the great cause of the redemption of our country to have one more blog, one more book or one more single-issue proforma post card to an MP? Politics – the exercise of power over people – is surely not furthered by moaning, looking inwards, naive idealism or fire-and-forget correspondence. It is a tough business of compromise and, inevitably, partial dissatisfaction, that dies in the absence of widespread participation: it is dying today.

If, at any level of government, the problems we face are the result of misapplied power, it is surely incumbent on all of us actually to do something. There is in the country, a sense that people have paid their taxes and are right to expect quality services in return. There is a sense that those services are not forthcoming at reasonable cost, with appropriate accountability. There is a sense that we have had our liberties eroded within a culture of fear. There is a desire to see things put right, yet there is also a sense of defeatism.

At arguably the worst moment in this country’s history, a new Prime Minister took up his task with buoyancy and hope. The country faced a monstrous and unsurpassed tyranny, a war for its very survival, and yet the task was taken up, not with despair, but with buoyancy and hope.

Let us do the same. If you want government and public services to work, to do more, to do less, to do differently or just to stop doing badly, then I urge you, get involved in a party. If you believe in the power of everyday people, in buoyancy and hope, in freedom, enterprise, responsibility and nation, if you believe parties should be free from the influence of big donors, then I urge you to help the Conservatives by joining today.

"You can get it if you really want" poster 3, originally uploaded by conservativepartyuk.

A great speech focussing on responsibility and morality:

I think the time has come for me to speak out about something that has been troubling me for a long time. I have not found the words to say it sensitively. And then I realised, that is the whole point.

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Today, I met David Cameron.

He’s taller than you imagine and even fresher faced. His speech and his responses to questions were positive, optimistic, realistic and balanced. There was a real sense that David is a decent, honest and committed man who wants to make Britain the country it ought to be.

I’m beginning to believe.

Well, where have all my posts gone? Apart from working and commuting, I have been focussing on meeting people in politics. I joined the Conservative Front Bench Club, which led to some illuminating meetings and introductions. I am developing a real confidence in the Conservatives’ ability to deliver meaningful change and revitalization in Britain.

The “You can get it if you really want” campaign seems spot on to me: upbeat, specific and aligned to what people want.

Look too at David Cameron’s speeches – like this one on local life – and you see the possibility of moving away from the degrading slavery of central state control towards a civil society of individual responsibility and freedom from bureaucracy.

More happening next week…

… but it confuses the right-wing media, who want government out of our lives, but who also want to blame government for every crisis. At least I am not alone in spotting that Cameron is ahead of the game.

In rare moments of calm the focus switches from a troubled Government to a partially recovered Conservative Party. When it does so David Cameron’s admirers and critics tend to argue in unison that the Conservative leader should set out his political purpose more clearly, implying that he lacks a compelling or coherent narrative.

The criticism is both unfair and slightly odd. Whatever his failings, Cameron outlines in most speeches a vision that is potentially revolutionary in its implications, one that could at the very least transform the political culture in Britain and might bring about more sweeping changes.

Cameron envisages an extraordinary transfer of power away from the centre to local community groups, users of public services and to local government. Take a typical speech he delivered last month to the Young Foundation. Cameron began by arguing that a much greater degree of local control allows communities to apply solutions best suited to meet their needs. He added also that diversity works at a national level. Local innovation would allow others to copy the best.

The article is here.