Home page The death of conviction politics Considerable cynicism colours the degree to which the Government, at the last minute, took some of the Conversative and Liberal Democrat policies and rebranded them as their own in the latest pre-budget announcements from the Chancellor. It has been predicted that this lack of conviction politics will become the norm and that it is likely to destroy the justification for political parties as an essential part of our democratic system. The cynical mechanism which has the image of benefiting the people of the country is a process whereby the governing parties have become geared to acting in any way to remain in power whilst avoiding an election. As a result of this process the party system contributes little to participatory democracy since the reasoning is not based upon a known preference of the electorate but rather is limited to those perceived by the political parties to be popular even although they were initially proposed by opposing political parties. Whereas this might be assumed to benefit the people of Britain the reality is that because the electorate is provided with no direct say in the matter the process does not necessarily represent a way of identfying better policies in line with the preferences of the electorate. Such a process is hardly based upon conviction politics founded upon a rational and objective assessment of electorate needs or even a moral position but it represents a substitution of conviction politics by a shifting of support to any policy a political party senses might improve its chances to stay in power. This process is described in the book, "The Briton's Quest for Freedom" under a section entitled, "The Party is Over" where it reads: "British political parties in government or in opposition have consistently failed to ascertain the real preferences of the electorate. Accordingly, any proclamations concerning the degree to which they know what the people of the country want have no fundamental validity. Clearly, one thing the people of Britain do desire is a change in the political system so that when Parliament holds up a mirror of its assumptions this reflects the will of the people. Such a prospect does not exist because the whole system is biased towards the preferences of political parties who have no experience, capacity or inclination to reflect the preferences of the electorate. No one denies that this is a complex issue to solve but it has to be addressed. It is more than evident that whereas political parties can have a useful function in raising ideas and even, from time to time, distinct philosophical approaches to issues, they should not, as private organizations, become managers of any aspect of governance. The general unease amongst the people of Britain with regard to political parties and their declining membership raises important questions. How can real preferences be determined and reflected in government and how can individual freedom be sustained and defended? This challenge represents a vitally important and common cause. It is the most powerful of unifying factors demanding a strengthening of the effectiveness of Parliament. Parliament must become that transparent institution reflecting the free will of the people. But no British political party or its members could or would honour such an objective for their interest is to gain and hang onto power by using means specifically ignoring the real preferences of the people in a wholly illegitimate way. In order to complete the journey to freedom it is necessary to recognize that all British political parties have entered a terminal phase in terms of their relevance to governance. Identity and consumer policy-based platforms expose them to an electorate made up of distinct individuals each with specific preferences. They have no particular reason to change their fundamentally valid outlooks. This is the most under-estimated direct challenge to the relevance and survival of political parties. A destructive and easily applied tactic is already at work. Political parties have started to take other party's appealing ideas to repackage and re-brand them as their own. This could eventually discourage parties from publicising what they think are their best ideas. But then, this would be self-defeating because of its cynicism. The outcome, either way, is that the distinctions between political parties become increasingly difficult to discern. The degree to which one party can "steal" policies from another is also the degree to which they participate in an exercise of self-inflicted destruction for there is no philosophical or any other basis to distinguish between them. The current phase in British politics, taking into account the tiny membership and low electoral support of political parties, seems to be the beginning of their end in their current form and maybe of their entire existence. The Leveller suspicion of factions or political parties as a source of corruption in perverting the course of freedom would appear to have been well justified in the light of the current status of our political system 358 years after they registered this concern." Reference: The Briton's Quest for Freedom .. Our unfinished journey. McNeill, H.W., HPC, July 2007, ISBN: 9780907833017. Posted: 10th October, 2007.