I think we ought to bring a little honesty into the discussion of politics. The people who seek to form the framework of political debate have suggested that there are two opposing ideologies in play and they represent the two extremes. So far so good. However, these extremes are then explained as being from Stalin, for instance, on the Left to Hitler on the far Right.
This has been the accepted logic for a long time and it has been massively successful for the Left. Because Stalin was 'correct' in his thinking, people of the Left such as Ed Milibands' father and Eric Hobsbawm have absolutely no problem with all the killing. Well, OK, they would rather it wasn't publicised.
But good grief, the horrors of that nasty Right wing bloke and all like him. Have you seen what they get up to? And it is all aimed at you!
Problem is, these are not two opposing points of view. When you talk about teaching a child the difference between right and wrong you are trying to pass on something important and pointing out that one is unhelpful and socially unacceptable and the other is much better received by everyone.
Hitler and Stalin are very much at the same end of the scale. They were totalitarian and they fall at the Left end of the scale. This scale balances the realities of human life and experience. Whether someone else runs your life and tells you what to do on pain of death or at least punishment. Arbitrary and at the whim of a faceless 'state'. Or whether you have personal freedom as long as what you do is not to the detriment of others, or cause them harm.
All Left ideology believes in dehumanising society for the benefit of better controlling it. This ideology believes that the state exists as if it were a living organism and needs to be served by the people. In return it will provide (by imposition) order and safety. Obviously, when you get to the level of the elite who make the rules then things like wealth, luxury, personal freedom and such like will come back into play. They do the difficult bit after all, making it all work!
At the other end of course is a loose society, held together by mutually agreed and acceptable limitations. A state exists but it is seen for what it is, an invention to serve an end and that end is to do as little by way of control as is necessary for the good order of society. There will be some rules, but the absence of overt rules exerts an influence of its own, that of individual responsibility.
People must accept their place in society and participate. At the simple level of the policemen, a citizen in uniform operating only by the consent of the people, will be assisted by the people in the apprehension of an offender, for instance. They will see it as their duty and understand that their right to freedom is upheld by their responsibility in maintaining it. The policeman will not fear the community and will operate freely and openly because he is a part of it.
This free society will have its problems and it must face them by introducing laws to point in the right direction, but still allow as much freedom as possible. The biggest danger such a free society faces is if (when) people who wish to have without giving agitate for power. Due to the nature of a Right wing, free society it will allow these people to speak and the gullible will be drawn in.
The totalitarian has little problem with lying of course and operating apart from the 'society', merely seeking to undermine it from within.
Today, Britain finds itself heavily influenced by the totalitarians and is some way down the path to giving in to them completely. There may never have been a 'golden age' when everything was better, but it is tangible and self evident to those old enough to know, that politically and in societal terms this country is very much worse now than it has been for a very long time.
Once socialism had done its good work (mainly riding on the backs of the rich, philanthropic Victorians) it was subsumed as the first useful tool of the Left and strangely became associated with the Left.
A structured and technological society is an easier one for command and control ideology to grasp of course, but it only requires a small effort to fight it off. You have to think for yourself. So put down your iPad a moment and consider. Do you want all that you have and the ability to do what you want when you want, how you want (within the rules of a civilised society, not harming others), or do you prefer the route being taken now of being instructed by politicians on the how, where, when of life?
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