Hi Everyone,
As I’ve been working my way through a short list of topics to talk about on my new YouTube channel, one that has kept popping up, as I have been wading through social media has been Gaza, or more accurately the protests that we are hearing about at Universities, and the potential impact of voting for candidates in UK Elections who are telling us that they are going to champion Gaza as a cause.
Considering just how important the subject of politics and the politicians we have representing us really is, it is very concerning to learn that candidates were elected on a platform of promising to pursue peace in Gaza and whatever troubling suggestions that go with that as a cause. Not least of all because Local Elections have absolutely zero influence on Foreign Policy (Which itself doesn’t EVER give the London government the right to dictate policy in other countries anyway).
One-issue activism of any kind completely overlooks the public service delivery and policy areas like Council Tax, Bin Collections, Schools, Roads, Planning, Licensing and a whole range of other LOCAL issues that these elections are really all about.
One step on, and many will be surprised to learn that voting for the Westminster Parliament and the Constituency MPs who sit there in a General Election is also about much, much more than Foreign Policy itself.
Foreign Policy is actually a lot more about our relationships across the world and using real leadership to influence other countries to behave and act in ways that are good for us all.
We have a growing list of problems around the world, because we haven’t been electing politicians who:
- Put our needs first and
- Don’t understand the consequences for us all of not building responsible relationships with other countries that genuinely put the interests of the people and the businesses in those countries before those of private interests and companies in our own.
Whilst the passion, anger and frustration of young people at University is understandable, the truth that they could easily damage their career paths, at a time when changes in tech and AI are already unnecessarily limiting the opportunities for everyone, is hard to fathom.
Real change can only come about by electing people who get the solutions to ALL of the issues that effect all of us right, each and every day.
These will be the same people and politicians who know and understand what real leadership is. Leaders who will be able to see how important it is that we don’t have relationships with other countries where the only consideration is the headlines and what potential voters are going to think when they see the next days offerings from the mainstream media.
Poor politics in the UK and across the West for far too long has aided and abetted many of the problems that are being manifested across the world today.
If we really want to change them, the best way we can start that process is to think more carefully and deliberately about the people we are electing to represent us in each and every election that we have, across the UK and in particular, when those votes are going to decide who makes the decisions about everything that happens in our communities and closer to home.
Adam Tugwell 