It is often said that an important test of the strength of any democracy is the smooth transfer of power from an outgoing government to an incoming government. Given recent events in the USA who can doubt this is an important test. But there is another, equally important test; that democratic government is, or should be, ruling in a way that supports opponents, not just supporters, those who voted against it, as well as those who voted for it.
Democratic politics in recent years has produced a number of surprising outcomes. The election of Donald Trump was just one of these. The UK's decision to leave the European Union was another. Neither was expected. The growing opposition to medical responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as increasing the apparently increasing resistance to vaccines, may be another. This latter opposition will be the main focus of this blog, but the origin of each of the three situations is probably the same: the discounting and neglect of an important minority. So let us try to analyse what links these three 'surprising' outcomes. What sort of questions should we be asking to explain why modern electorates are making such apparently strange decisions.
TRUMP
Trump came to power with the support of a section of the USA population which thought itself to be, and is often described itself, as neglected, or 'disenfranchised'. These right wing groups did not feel the dominant political elites in Washington had done anything for them, so voted for Trump as they believed he was someone who reflected their concerns, and might represent their interests. So Trump was elected to 'drain the swamp'. Trump gave them a voice, they listened to him, liked what they heard, and voted for him. For all his many failings he brought back into politics a large disaffected, dissatisfied marginalised electorate. Or, to put this in reverse, Trump's surprise victory was built on the back of decades of mainstream political neglect that had gone on for decades.
BREXIT
The unexpected Brexit Referendum result had similar origins. The political establishment at Westminster did not see it coming, and had not prepared for it. 'Remainers' were shocked; the referendum was supposed to rectify the divisions of the Conservative party; leaving the EU was never the intention. 'Leavers' did not expect to win either. The result was that neither side had a plan or strategy ready. The reason for this shock result was similar. There was a growing number of people who felt politically marginalised and socially neglected. Many of them had not voted for many years as it seemed to matter little whether there was a Conservative, Labour or even a Coalition government - nothing changed, ever. And by voting contrary to the expectations of the political elites they were drawing attention to themselves; the vote was as much a protest as it was a belief in what they were voting for.
HEALTH
The health issues against which government, the NHS, and the mainstream media are railing against is broadly, although not entirely similar. There exists two broad sections of the community who feel marginalised, and deprived of a voice. Both groups wonder why the NHS has been failing to deliver wellness for decades. The background has been regularly discussed on this blog.
- Every winter, for decades, there has been an NHS crisis. Every year the NHS is promised, and given more money to cope with rising patient demand - only for a similar crisis to emerge again the following year.
- The incidence of chronic disease, including cancer, dementia, autism, arthritis, diabetes, etc., has increased year on year. Sick patients have demanded and received more treatment, more drugs, more vaccines, more operations; but even then nothing seemed to change.
- Every year a new flu outbreak has brought the NHS to its knees; waiting lists lengthen, there is a shortage of beds, people have to wait on trolleys in corridors, or in ambulances, and 'elective'. operations are cancelled.
Then came Covid-19, a killer influenza-type epidemic, for which (not unusually) conventional medicine had no treatment. As a result the NHS message was a fearful and panic-creating one. Be afraid! The virus could strike anyone, at any time, anywhere. We had to wash our hands and socially distance. At first we were told masks were not necessary; later they became essential. Later, still with no treatment to offer, and an increasing number of people contracting the virus, the viability of the NHS became an issue. Just as it has done for many years. Another NHS crisis; although this time government handed the responsibility to us. They could have any resources they wanted. But we had to save the NHS. So we had to lockdown in order to spread out the incidence of the disease.
Ten months and three lockdowns later many people have an inevitable feeling of deja vu. It's the same old medical failure to cope, for reasons not significantly to any other year. Even the 'new variant' of Covid-19 seems suspect. Is this another excuse for the failure to cope with the virus? How many 'new variants' will there be? Cynicism sets in, politicians and doctors have made promises galore; but there is still no end in sight. The hardships continue, with no end in sight other than more promises about a vaccine.
- Lockdown might be survivable for those living in decent housing, with space and gardens to enjoy, with money to spend, and in the warmth of the summer. Those living without these advantages found it harder; living closely together, without space, doubly hard for those living amidst domestic violence or abuse; more cynicism arising for those who realised that the politicians imposing lockdown benefited from large homes and gardens.
- The mental health of many people has suffered as a result of isolation, loneliness, and the suspension of normal life. Medical treatment for sick people, often very sick people with cancer or serious organ failure, was stalled, or indefinitely postponed, with many patients in these circumstances dying.
- Jobs and livelihoods have been compromised and destroyed by lockdown. The national economy is suffering to an extent that cannot be accurately predicted. For those who have lost their jobs, their expectations, the future looks bleak.
Nor is there any relief emanating from the Westminster political elites. The Government has demonstrated it is incompetent. The main opposition (and all the smaller political parties) have criticised the policy, but only to the extent that it has acted too late, or not strictly or hard enough. They want more of the same failed policies.
People, not unreasonably, want to return to normal life. They want to go out, to socialise, to do the things they enjoy doing. So many people have done just this, often breaking the rules in doing so; and they are castigated by the mainstream media for doing so. More alienation.
But instead they are blamed. The Government, which has had to explain the failure of its policies, begins to blame the people who are breaking their rules. The virus is spreading because these people have gone to the beach, a park bench, held a party, or attended an illegal rave. The problem is not the policy! It is the people who are breaking the rules; if only they would do as they were told, stick to the rules, and conform. It is their fault the virus is out of control - so they have blood on their hands.
Alienation is the result. Just as Trump's followers wanted a voice, just as Brexit voices wanted to protest, large numbers of people feel dissatisfied with a policy that is clearly not working. Many may not know why they break the rules, other than are angry or fed-up, they do not verbalise what they are feeling. Many may feel guilty about it, and certainly cannot justify what they are doing, or why they are doing it. They just feel isolated, alone, alienated from everything going on around them.
THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION
Throughout 2020 there has been an incessant, monochrome, coverage of the Covid pandemic. The government, with the (almost unanimous) permission of Parliament, has taken powers never before known outside wartime. It is as though we fought and won our liberty and freedom, and constructed our democracy, in vain. They have justified taking these powers, apologised for asserting these powers, and having to re-assert them each time they fail to work. Nothing has changed. The policies remain the same, but the intensity of the justification for those policies increases.
Opposition political parties have all criticised government policy; but only to the extent that they have not imposed their policies soon enough, or aggressively enough. More lockdown is required. Effectively, the political establishment at Westminster is united; TINA applies - there is no alternative. So nothing new or different is likely to come from Parliament, from the dominant political classes.Nor is there any questioning from the mainstream media (MSM), which is entirely in line with government policy. It delves into daily medical statistics and government interpretation of those statistics - the number of positive tests, the number of hospitalisations, the number of deaths. A succession of conventional medical experts from the NHS, and from Academia, are paraded and interviewed, all of them 'on message'. Many members of the public are also interviewed, but only if they are 'on message', can 'enhance' the message, and if any (mild) criticism of the policy is preceded with "I understand the reason for the policy, but ....."
So all the MSM does is to repeat the same message, time and time again, incessantly. It's the same message: wash your hands: keep your social distance: stick to the rules: comply with lockdown; and wait for the new vaccines to save us.
So alienated people have consistently been told they are wrong, they are entirely on their own, their thoughts, feelings and actions are the subject of disapproval. They have been effectively excluded, the entire world seems to be against them. They have no voice. They feel abused. Yet all they are doing is asking legitimate questions.
GOVERNMENT POLICY AND MEDICAL SCIENCE
Governments around the world are keen to let us know that their policy is not really their policy at all. They have been developed in accordance with the advice and expertise of conventional medical science. Immediately this brings into the picture another group of alienated people, people who also feel entirely ignored, discounted, and usually ridiculed and vilified too. They have been regularly and gratuitously harangued them over recent years by governments and the mainstream media. And the NHS, dominated by the conventional medical monopoly that controls it, has virtually banished them from their midst.
2. Alternative Medicine. This second group consists of a growing band of people who have (i) lost confidence in conventional or pharmaceutical medicine; and (ii) worse still (sic) people who actually choose to use natural medical therapies as their preferred route to personal health care. These people disagree with TINA - there certainly IS an alternative! Vaccines are not the only way the world will be saved.
I am one of these people, so don't just add us to the group who disapprove of government policy on Covid-19, lockdown, and the importance of vaccination. We can explain why government policy is misguided and utterly foolish. Our cynicism is based on our personal experience, our particular expertise, and our use of natural therapies for their medical treatment. This is not the place to justify our views - but all natural therapy is firmly committed to the immune system, and the support and strengthening of natural immunity.
We do not trust the NHS, or what conventional doctors are telling us. Above all, we don't trust pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, believing them to be largely ineffective, dangerously unsafe, a threat to natural immunity. We know this from personal experience, and from our intellectual curiosity. We have read the evidence, we can point to the Patient Information Leaflets that accompany each drug and vaccine and which confirm that are not safe as doctors tell us. We are also aware that many vaccine users have been compensated (largely through government-sponsored vaccine compensation schemes) as they have been seriously damaged by them. And natural therapists have all treated people who have been damaged by pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines.
The conventional medical establishment (including government, the NHS, and the MSM, enjoy stating the natural therapies don't work. We have to laugh as we are not given the right to reply! How do we know they are wrong. We are people who have been ill, and been cured with natural therapies. So we know they lie; that they are speaking for their masters, supporting pharmaceutical domination of medicine.
Some go even further. The leader of the UK's main opposition Labour party, Keir Starmer, actually wants to criminalise us as he considers that we are responsible for 'vaccine hesitancy'. Now that is real marginalisation, real alienation!
THE WAY MAJORITIES TREAT MINORITIES
Mainstream politicians need to do some serious reflection on how they deal with minority groups. If they don't there will be more Donald Trumps' gaining political power, more Brexit decision foisted on them by an alienated population.
As far as health is concerned they need to start asking serious questions about why the NHS (and other national health services around the world) are in constant crisis, why patients are being asked to 'save' failing health services, why the response to Covid-19 has been so lamentably unsuccessful, and why medical 'experts' have led them to impose absurd policies on everyone, policies which are seriously harming the national economy, and the social and emotional life of everyone.
In particular they need to ask why there has been virtually no mention of the importance natural immunity, and how our immune systems can be supported and strengthened as a primary defence against Covid-19; and why natural therapies have never been asked to assist the NHS. Perhaps Mr Johnson, Mr Starmer, and other leading politicians, should begin to listen and engage with the very people they are alienating.
