AH, - THE ILLUSION OF DEMOCRACY!

        When a government decides policy in line with decisions made by consulting the public and in line with the opinion of that public, you could say that you have some form of democracy. However, when government policy is guided after consultations with those with vested interests in policy that is contrary to the wishes of the public, then it is safe to say that democracy is an illusion and the government and those vested interests are working in unison against the public interest. That's where we are at at the moment.

The following is an extract from SCOTTISH LEFT REVIEW:

        Another story that stuck in my mind: in 2006-07 the then Scottish Executive policy was to keep Scottish Water in public hands (with a bit of an open mind on the question of mutualisation). The Water Industry Commission for Scotland is a Non-Departmental Public Body (quango) with the role of regulating the publicly-owned Scottish Water. It’s Chief Executive then was Alan Sutherland. That year WICS privately commissioned a London-based consultancy to ‘consider different options of ownership for Scottish Water’ (against government policy). They called this ‘Project Checkers’ (perhaps because this game is about ‘capturing’ passive opponents) and kept it completely secret – it was never published. The project cost £209,000 of public money. Of this £17,606.00 went to a non-executive director of two private water companies owned by the world’s biggest transnational water corporation which would clearly benefit from privatisation. The report concluded that privatisation was the way forward.

       That story again; a senior civil servant (effectively) who is there to implement government policy decides to use public money to build a case to lobby against government policy and does so by employing (at significant public expense) someone with a very clear commercial conflict of interests, producing the only outcome that was possible given the methodology used – a plea for another giant handover of a profitable public asset to the private sector.

Read the full article HERE:

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WAR WITHOUT END!!!

      

       It is difficult to read through history and find a period when this state has not been at war with that state. If it has not been actual physical war it has been threatening war. With that state hurtling abuse at the next state, each proclaiming their threats have a righteous legitimacy. War is never caused by the people, never is it a case of a bunch of German truck drivers running across the border and attacking a group of French florist. It is always the state, the power mongers, the powerful and the wealthy, egged on by wealthy groups with a vested interest and the people are the ones who are called on to get on with the slaughter and be slaughtered. While the people bleed the various states and the privileged parasitical wealthy collect the gains.

       As long as we hold on to this system of state power, each power structure will see the other as a threat. The wealthy power groups in each state will demand that their interests, wealth and privileges be protected and enhanced at the expense of any co-operation. Wealth is enhanced by grabbing what belongs to others and violence is the state's and the privileged parasites main method, since they don't actually get involved in the violence. Those who actually have to do the “violence” gain nothing. Hence, under the present system we will have war without end.

      "Well, there’ve always been people going around saying someday the war will end. I say, you can’t be sure the war will ever end. Of course, it may have to pause occasionally–for breath, as it were–it can even meet with an accident–nothing on this earth is perfect–a war of which we could say it left nothing to be desired will probably never exist. A war can come to a sudden halt–from unforeseen causes–you can’t think of everything–a little oversight, and the war’s in the hole, and someone’s got to pull it out again! The someone is the Emperor or the King or the Pope. They’re such friends in need, the war has really nothing to worry about, it can look forward to a prosperous future."

Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage (1938)

 

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