There is nothing to argue about regarding Climate Change.
Right now, the catastrophe that we are facing is possibly the most serious our world; our planet has ever faced. Somewhat surprisingly, despite the stack of evidence, some are still in denial of climate change and the negative effect that human-made pollution has had on our atmosphere, not to mention the planet itself.
Refusing to acknowledge climate change, despite the reams of independent scientific supporting research, is not dissimilar to refusing to accept Darwin's theory of evolution or the fact that the world is not flat.
Furthermore, denial and inaction present's a clear and present danger to our planet's population, present and more importantly, our future.
It is not a question of blaming others. We are where we are. We can't change the past, but what we do in the present will determine the future.
It is down to us to take our own actions. Every little positive change we make will have a massive cumulative effect to the good. Alongside our independent efforts, we must keep the pressure on our leaders to take this seriously and take action now.
"One's" - single actions make a difference. Every one counts here.
When thinking of future generations - it is utterly selfish to leave a legacy of pollution in all its forms, the extinction of species and such colossal debt. If we were determined to do something about this - we could?
We need to be more caring - for all living things.
It becomes more evident every day, how the gap continues to grow between the "Haves" and "Have Nots" in our world. Unless we address this inequality, we will all pay the consequences - eventually, in some form.
For a start, we have to address the population explosion. We have to do this for our survival and the survival of our world. There are just too many people. We are exterminating the population of other living creatures along with habitat, that goes, not only to support them but for us humans also. Our failure here is self-destruction and is utter madness.
Equality.
Plainly, everyone is not born equal; it is just the luck of the draw.
That being so, it would be logical to agree that it would be unfair and unkind to attack anyone purely because of whom their parents were? And yet we still vote into power leaders who do exactly that.
A question I frequently ask myself is once we, as individual human beings, have been given life and are growing up in a variety of circumstances, what is it that determines our sense of self? The nurture or nature questions. What is it that frames our view of the world in which we are living? More importantly, where does our sense of emotional intelligence, or lack of it come from?
Certainly our upbringing. The people with whom we mingle. Our genes - how we react to what we see, hear, smell and touch. Our first-hand experiences, the bit that affects our emotional logic, these all frame and mould our psyche.
But what is it that allows some people to empathise with the less fortunate? I guess the first question is; why try and make this world a little fairer - what is the point? The world is how it is, let it be - is one view — shared incidentally, by some very unattractive people.
No one except the very callous and unfeeling want to live with a deep sense of injustice. So, with some notable exceptions, we, in the west anyway, have adopted democracy, where everyone has a vote, a voice. We all get a chance to say who we want to govern us. But this one chance every few years is based on trust. And when there is no one you really trust, that presents dilemmas and unpalatable compromises. The system is in danger of breaking down.
In terms of financial resource, there will never be a level playing field. We are all different, some faster, some bigger, some work harder. Some will always have more - but don't we need to ensure that everyone has enough? That all living beings have a right to a safe, fulfilled and happy life. And we know that money does not buy happiness. It might be able to acquire a bit more choice and privilege, but for sure, it is no guarantee of happiness.
Besides - with privilege goes responsibility. Some of the privileged too often forget this.
"Give the less well off a little, just enough to stop them rising up in revolt"- is their cry.
We have our differences.
I met a teacher who put it this way when differentiating his charges; "You wouldn't try and teach a fish how to climb trees - but swimming - they're damn good at that." Clearly, we are all different. But for the good of our society, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that all the bubbles of talent can find their way of floating to the surface, whatever those talents are. We collectively need to provide a mechanism for this to happen. Privilege and upbringing should not be a barrier.
In essence, - this is where the divergence of ideals begin. In basic form; do you try and level the playing field and make everyone the same? - Or encourage diversity and the entrepreneurs and create a society where risk and hard work are rewarded and the better off and more able subsidise, the less well off? That is basically how our world works - to various degrees.
Politics is the battle of ideas, and everyone is affected by who wins the battle. But apart from the ideas - certainly we in the west are used to good governance; transparent, honest and competent. You might say, we take it for granted.
We are blessed with our civil service's, no matter how much we like to criticise our authorities at times, we are fortunate in this country. As in most of Europe and what we term as the "Western World", we have a democratic model. It isn't perfect, but it is relatively robust, and it mostly works pretty well.
The UK's upcoming election.
When it comes to the battle for ideas - the moor extream the ideas, the fewer people will vote for them. Currently, in the UK, we have a far-left Socialist party putting forward their radical proposals. We have a far-right ultra-conservative party putting forward their ideas. Both of these traditionally major parties have gone "extreme". This leaves a large proportion of middle ground that is left empty of representation. The "middle-of-the-road" people - who's usual and natural home has vanished because both the two major parties have lurched to the out-side margins and vacated the middle ground.
Most people are moderate. They may lean a little to the left or the right. But they remain close to the middle. The further from the centre you go, the smaller the crowd of people you are talking to becomes.
That is why I am pretty sure the two major parties in the UK, Conservative and Labour will show poorly in the upcoming election. The joker is Brexit. I suspect that that will play into Johnson's right-wing Conservative Party hand to the cost of Labour.
However, it is the Liberal Democrats that we need to watch. I believe they have foolishly outsmarted themselves by declaring that they will revoke article 50 without another referendum. That, to me, seems undemocratic and will no doubt cost them some votes. We will see how that plays out, but ostensibly, they are hoping to hoover up all the "remainers".
Brexit has caused a unique schism in this coming UK election. The battle of ideas which is the battle for our "Hearts and Minds" is being fought on a single highly emotional issue. The sole topic of Brexit has divided our nation as never before. We have life-long Labour supporters voting Conservative. We have ardent Conservatives voting for the Liberal Democrats and many protest votes being scattered amongst other minority party's.
The Green Party will do well, but I suspect they will not get many more seats, though they certainly deserve more. For better or for worse, we have "a first past the post" opposed to "proportional representation" here. The result, I hope, will be another "Hung Parliament." While I may be wrong, what I fervently hope is that Mr Johnson does not win an overall majority. The conventional wisdom right now says I am wrong - Johnson will win. The way I view the situation is that it will be bad for our country in the long term to leave the EU. I do hope I am wrong, but I fear not.
What could be one outcome is Labour, Scottish Independents and Lib-Dems coming together and agree to another referendum. If we had another poll, we as a nation could vote to remain in the EU. We could then all get back to the business of living and focusing on the vital issues of the present and future, as well of course as rebuilding our relationship with Europe.
We should acknowledge that while the EU has not been blameless in aggravating the Brexit process - there must be a lot of bruising on both sides. The UK is far closer to Europe than anywhere else in the world. We need to do some healing here - together.
Except for a few expelled Conservatives - no one has been making a case for Europe. There is a convincing argument to be made for staying in Europe, but our political representatives seem to have given up. It is as if there is a tsunami of uninformed emotional opinion against Europe and the pro-Remain politicians have all quit.
I come back to "politics being the battle of ideas". You have to be able to make your case and win the argument with compelling logic that is beyond dispute. What has happened to us in the UK? - We have been drowned with emotional half-truths and exaggerations of anti-Europe rhetoric. What is worse, some quite intelligent people have been duped into believing this Anti-European codswallop.
Of course, the European Union is not perfect. But it is a powerful group. If the United Kingdom leaves - we will diminish in the eyes of the world. We will lose our gravitas and become a minor player on the outside - we will be irrelevant to the world. As a country, despite what our untrustworthy Prime minister is saying - We are starring over the abyss.
No matter if we are talking about leaders who are Generals, Presidents, CEO's or Prime Ministers - the bottom line is "Trust" - do we trust them? Have they demonstrated by their actions that they are trustworthy? That is the risk when we cast our ballot in the coming election. And we are playing for enormous stakes, the future of the United Kingdom.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 8th December 2019
rick@notesfromengland
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