Trump’s now famous U-turns are causing me to doubt the validity of the political system. Am I being overly cynical?
New Order Politics
In the last few years we have seen some big changes in Politics. The rise of UKIP, the alt-right and Brexit. The experienced pundits were unable to predict the rise and methods of these campaigns. One thing links these apparently unconnected issues; New Order Politics.
New Order Politics (NOP) is a phrase I have coined to explain this phenomena. It’s definition is essentially a style of Political campaigning that promises everything the masses are shy about asking for. Then when you have won the popular vote you simply continue the status quo and blame the lack of change in rivals, “the system” or just plain ignore criticism.
So why am I cynical?
When we see any politicians saying “vote for me and I will do x,y and z” , I’m now left thinking, but can you actually reliever that? Do you know what is required to make that happen?
It seems the answer to those questions is generally “No”. Trump is a great example, he used to talk about the Iran nuclear deal, NATO, Washington etc as all big problems. A giant Scape Goat that he can point to and say, “if we could just fix these problems, we would all have Ferrari’s”. Now he’s in power, he doesn’t mention these things anymore, and if he does, there not so bad.
Brexit is another NOP example. The Brexit camp promised all sorts of things; money, reduction of immigration, change in law’s etc. Now it looks like the money’s gone, immigration will be about the and and we are going to continue to follow EU law.
So what is really going on here?
It seems to me that politics has reached a level of reality TV. Let’s get the masses on board, any way we can and then when we are in power we do as we like, by then they would have forgotten about politics. The short attention span and hyper apathy are key ingredients to this dangerous mix.
The result is politics which resembles click bait adverts on dodgy news sites rather than traditional values being legislated though by experienced public servants.
What can be done? Who can we complain to?
There’s not much we can do. Whenever there is a vote, people with activate their NOP strategies, get the masses on board, promise them what they want to hear and then move on.
Am I being cynical? Some friends have said, “that’s how it’s always been”, I think that is more cynical.
I think we are entering a phase where right and wrong is not related to fact, but public opinion. When I look back to WW2 propaganda, it seems so primitive and childish, you would expert it to be laughed under the carpet. It wasn’t, and I think today’s politics will be viewed in the same light. In 100 years people will look back to this period and say, why were people so gullible?