A new Politics

I am not a conspiracy nut, I believe that human beings tend to act like the starlings that circle over the ruin of Brighon's derelict pier that I can see from my window, they move together, there is nothing random about it. We seem to act together

One of the things that I have been fascinated by is the routing of the Labour Party in Scotland, in a way it is mirrored throughout Europe, good old fashioned socialist or Christian democratic parties  have lost traction with voters and really apart from "Equalities" have few policies that are very distinct from those of their mates who sat on the other side of the university PPE lecture theatre and now sit on the other side of the parliamentary debating chamber. There is a sameness in politics and politicians, it is only personality or lack of it that brings in a distinction.

The Labour Party here are asking advice from voters about their future. My advice would be forget about the rubbish of the past fifty years and go back to fighting poverty and being on the side of the worker, raise up the downtrodden and the disadvantaged, in fact I would give then the same advice Pope Francis might: start putting the family first.

The Synod on the Family could have been a wonderful moment for renewal not just in Europe but throughout the world, it now looks as if it is going to be nasty little congress to discuss everything which is anti-family, pushed by those who ideologically oppose the family or at least the Christian family. Yes, I blame Cardinal Marx and his brothers who for some reason want to distract the Synod from its purpose. Why? What a good question, cui bono? Catholic liberals tend to flock with political liberals. I am told that at one of those Conclave planning soirees it wasn't just devious liberal old Cardinals from failing Churches who gathered but politicians, financiers, media moguls.

What if we did address, "The living conditions that put the family to the test and render it vulnerable, starting with poverty," What if we took seriously Pope Francis' call that, “We must endeavour to stay ever closer to families afflicted by poverty”.... “In effect, social misery affects the family and at times destroys it. The lack or loss of work, or its precariousness, have serious repercussions on family life, putting relationships under stress. The living conditions in the most disadvantaged areas, with problems regarding housing and transport, as well as the reduction of social, healthcare and educational services, cause further difficulties. Added to these material factors there is also the damage caused to the family by false models, propagated by the mass media, based on consumerism and the cult of appearances, which affect the poorest social classes and increase the disintegration of family bonds”.

It is not merely murder or sodomy that cries out to heaven for vengeance, it is also oppression of the widow and orphan, and depriving the worker of his just wages or of any wages, or simply leaving him to starve.

If we give priority to the family rather than the individual then we start with a radically different model of humanity. If we could build a new politics that saw the human beings not as a selfish and self obsessed individuals but as family members that had a self-sacrificing love for the other members of his or her family and society as a whole.

Joe Shaw draws attention to an article in the Economist that casts light on the malaise within our society.

We need to ask whether the politicking that has dominating the world since WWII is still of value. Can we still continue with something which was either a critique of or collaboration with 19th century Capitalism, Are we ever going to have full employment again? How do will deal with class conflict, which has now transmogrified into gender conflict? How do we address the cheapening of human life, the elderly, the unborn, people from sub-Sahara Africa? How will  we deal with young people who may never work or societies where substantial people will never marry because of sex selective abortions? How do we deal with the lack of fulfilment so many people experience?

I think these might be some of the questions Pope Francis in a rather Blatteresque way is asking us to address. As in much that concerns the Church the answer is often clearer than the question, for us the answer is: THE FAMILY stupid!