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.
