Deadlocked

British politics has reached a stalemate. It’s deadlocked. It’s at an impasse. From the outside the House of Commons is packed with rows upon rows of identical upper middle class men and women, more and more of them never having had a job outside of politics, “professional politicians” rather than people who have stood out of a sense of responsibility. Parties that once stood for something now stand for nothing more than holding power, the dreams and desires of yesteryear subsumed into the malaise of Westminster.

And when people do stand up for something they believe in – for the NHS, for Education, for a chance to make the world a better place if only for a while – they either get vilified by the media or they get taken over by idiot would-be “anarchists” who use it as an excuse for property damage, reducing the protests’ talking points to five inches at the bottom of the page. Is it any wonder no one cares any more, when they feel their MPs don’t represent them and that their voice is worthless?

Our political system doesn’t help. Thanks to first past the post, only Labour and the Tories have any chance of winning, with the Lib Dems taking most of the seats that are left. And while it used to be possible to tell the difference between the two, since the rapid swing away from the far left by Labour in the late eighties and the firm pull back to the centre by the Tories in the mid-nineties, it is now hard to tell whether Labour is continuing the policies of Thatcherism, or if the Conservatives are continuing the policies of New Labour. Attempts to change our electoral system, - to bring in a newer and fairer system of elections –have been defeated thanks to the apathy of the electorate and the efforts of the two major parties to ensure that the systems that put them in power continue to keep them there.

So what now? Should we simply accept this, shrug and move on, waiting for the day the entire house of cards comes crashing down. Or is there still room for the believer, the dreamer, the radical? Is there still room in our political system for people who don’t just want to carry on doing the same old things, but actually want to change them? Is there room for people who want to try new things and really attempt, not only to change the lives of those who are alive right now, but to change the world for the better for the sake of generations yet to come?

I can’t honestly say that I know. But I hope that there is. But what I do know is that our system can’t sustain itself as it is right now. Sooner or later things will come to a head and that head will be violent. The riots have shown that. But I also know that the system can change if only a few people are willing to try. And some people already are; which is why the various grassroots political movements are beginning to grow.

Maybe there is a little hope. Maybe one day we can break the deadlock. And I hope when that happens, that I will be around to see it.