PETER Geoghegan’s book Democracy for Sale received glowing recommendations – which all amounted to one simple message: “everyone should read this book.” I read it at the start of this year and I have to admit that it left me fearful. Given the numerous detailed accounts of how democracy has been subverted in recent years (eg Brexit, Italy, Trump’s machinations), what hope is there for us not to be brainwashed by very rich, powerful, malevolent minds?
Thus it was no surprise to me when – with an approaching election aiming towards independence – Scots have been induced in recent weeks to trashing not just each other, but also the dream that so many of us hold dear. (The puppet string pullers must be rubbing their hands in glee!)
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I’d ask people just to stand back for a minute, consider the bigger picture, and be compassionate humans in reacting to the current situation, not like political robots (for all I reckon it is algorithms from the latter that unleashed this fracas).
Contrast what has happened in Holyrood this past year with what has happened in Westminster. (On that point I would suggest that Ruth Davidson and Douglas Ross – given how they have behaved this past week – lack personal self-respect, let alone integrity in politics.) What Holyrood has just been wrestling with seems like a storm in a teacup versus the PPE scandals from Westminster, never mind Boris Johnson’s documented history of being an inveterate liar. Scotland has barely had two decades of this devolution level of self-government. If the word crisis means “dangerous opportunity” then let’s learn from this soul-searching experience to plan how our future independent country could be run.
I would like to live in a country where people are aware of the serious harm done by “dark money and dirty politics”, which incidentally is the subtitle of Democracy for Sale. I urge people to read it and reflect, instead of going for each other’s throats.
Catriona de Voil
Arbroath
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