Yesterday, we had an exercise in democracy…or was it populism?
The local elections (please don’t stop reading) are seen by the mainstream media as a measure of the popularity of Rishi, Kier and Ed, et Al (whoever he is). That’s a mistake.
They are truly local and fought on local issues – more often than not housing development. Would-be councillors have to be very careful about this thorny issue. For many, it is the only issue and they win or lose on it.
There is not one candidate who has stood on a platform of more housing in his, her or their district. Opposition is very popular with the electorate – it is populism.
But every wannabee councillor will want to end the housing crisis. This is democracy.
Language is, by its nature, inaccurate, which is great for lawyers, but a nightmare for the rest of us.
You have to be very careful with words. As the old Led Zeppelin (and Rolf Harris) song goes: ‘you know words sometimes have two meanings’.
So, where does democracy start and populism end? According to the dictionary, populism is ‘political activities or ideas that claim to promote the interests and opinions of ordinary people.’ Democracy in other words.
But now it seems to mean something more sinister. It’s almost a form of snobbery which seems to suggest that simple people are easily swayed by simple arguments rather than intellectual ones. So their views are not as important as those of the elite.
This is a scary path. Sure we may not like some of the views of Donald Trump (well, I don’t anyway) but I defend his right to have those views. And he was democratically elected. So was Barack Obama and we have never heard anyone call him a populist.
So when your planning committee turns against its officers and turns down a well-reasoned and sensible planning application, that is democracy driven by populism.
Never mind that it costs the poor mugs who voted for them (constituents) a fortune. In five years, Waverley BC went through almost £1 million of its taxpayers’ funds on lawyers to overturn its own officers’ decisions.
That’s democracy, folks!
Have a good weekend.
Tom
by the Planning PR guru 