A week or 2 ago i saw something on the telly that sparked my interest. It was a muslim extremist telling the world that democracy had failed in Britain and that the bright and glorious future of Britain lay in us throwing down our decadent, liberal and/or christian beliefs and adopting shiite law.
 Of course i gave the man the same sought of respect i'd give any nutter with a well honed one finger salute and switched channel, but it did get me down to thinking, is democracy really working? My answer, no.
 This isn't some plea for different systems of election or to reduce the amount of corporate sensorship in the mainstream press (although i would of course vote for both), its simply a look at what i think is happenning to peoples' views in this country.
 First people seem to feel very very separated from the people in charge of this country. they may have voted for Labour but they don't feel connected to the politicians in any way, in fact its probably the oppossite.
 Second people feel quite powerless over the decisions made in government. People power seems to have become a myth in this country. Union mobilization is given secondary interest by the press (i wonder why?) and if you were to tell people that they had real power over the decisions that affect their lives they'd probably just give you a funny look and mumble 'yeah sure'.
 Worst of all people don't see this as a problem in our 'democracy' or atleast not one that is curable.

 So who do we point the finger at for this current state of affairs?
 I point it directly at the political parties. Although the internet has helped in creating more democratic party systems with sites like this (though one does wonder if this site is censored), political parties still provide something for politicians to hide behind. Politicians use party systems to their own benefit or their enemies downfall, as anybody would, and this turns parties not into somewhere to help and discuss ideas freely with people of relatively similar viewpoints, but into PR centres. Sometimes i even get the feeling that the labour party isn't a democratic institution anymore but rather a PR corporation where we meet to discuss how best to spin. I get this feeling too at times with the lib dems (I classify myself as belonging to both) even though you get greater power within the liberal democrats as a member (cheaper too i think)!

 This as well as the cheap tricks major parties use against one another (ever heard 'Labour can't win here' in your neighbourhood) has caused some people to feel powerless against the machinery of the party, has helped to stagnate Britain's democratic system with low turnout as well as taking power away from people and pushing it into the reckless arms of high politics.

 So what should we do? well thats upto all of us normal party members really but i think some general rules can be applied to get democracy back on its feet.
Number 1. Ordinary people should have the power.
 Power should be taken away from the party leaders and given to the party members.
Number 2. The ends do not justify the means.
 End the cheap tricks and PR and focus our efforts on doing good instead (having all party members join together to fight the BNP would be nice).
Number 3. Punish those who have failed.
 If a labour MP has failed in his constituency to do good then it should not be expected of us to gather round him/her with support. we can't just support our own politicians we have to hold them accountable.
Number 4. Judge people not on their party but on themselves.
Other political parties are not our enemies, they just have different points of view. Sometimes they simply offer different means of achieving the same ends we want and constantly attacking them can at times be counterproductive to our cause.

disagree as and where you see fit and feel free to comment.
John