Chance of a Lifetime?

Is 2010 the year when the UK breaks out to lead the worldwide evolution?


Many of my friends in the UK have contacted me in the last year to let me know that they think that Britain is ready to change and that the Standards of LIFE could have a role to play in directing those changes. In the last few weeks, as the MP's expenses scandal has rolled out, the pace and urgency of these calls has increased. The logic is that never before have so many incumbent politicians being so mortally wounded on a personal level, following immediately on the heels of or in the midst of a profound economic and social crisis. This combination of individual and systemic weakness opens up an opportunity for a wholesale change in the makeup of the nation's primary representative body at the next general election, which is due to be held within the coming year.

At this stage the opportunity is still being phrased in terms inherited from the legacy political system. That legacy requires that representation is seen through the lens of established political parties and so the opportunity is seen as one in which one or another of the long-termly unsuccessful minority parties will dramatically increase its share of power. There are two reasons why this is a paper white horse: if those parties had good ideas about what to do differently they would have been more successful before now and, most importantly, real change must be a bottom-up affair and political parties are necessarily ill-suited to such a venture.

Until we have sufficient motivation in the general population to support a movement for change there is little or no point in creating a political party seeking to effect that change. Once there is sufficient momentum for change, the last thing we will need will be political parties seeking to protect their political, financial and philosophical "base".

There is an opportunity. A really significant opportunity to bring real change to a really important place in the world for such change to happen. And now is the time, no further evidence is necessary to support the notion that we are out of time; we must act now to prevent the worst ravages of the inevitable climate change from totally destroying our societies. But this opportunity must be grasped by the people in the realization that they are the ones that they have been waiting for. Nothing less will work.

If we are to prevent the occurrence of a second Dark Ages and if we wish to enhance whatever vague semblance of peace and prosperity we have been able to achieve thus far, we have to fundamentally reform the economic fabric that underpins our prosperity. A sustainable, survivable prosperity requires the rapid development of a microeconomic fabric; this is not something new that we have to invent, it is simply the liberation of existing potential within ourselves. Liberating this potential requires the devolution of power down to localities in which the myriad of changes can be made effectively and efficiently, and that will require a greatly enhanced version of the democracy that we practice today. Only a super-democracy will guarantee the necessary personal security to every member of society, will sufficiently reduce corruption and support the enfranchisement of everyone's personal liberty necessary for us to cooperate to the extent that it is necessary to build our new fabric.

The existing power structure is an inter-dependent collusion between economic and political interests that depends on the movement of power to, and the maintenance of power at, the top. The interests of today's elites are diametrically opposed to the interest of sustainable prosperity, and the interests of the vast majority of people everywhere. Inserting a new political party at the top of the existing political system simply replaces the old corruption target with a new one. Furthermore we do not have the decade or two that it would take to establish the credibility of a new political party, framed in the legacy terms of the existing political system.

We do have the chance of a lifetime now. The chance to effect peaceful change of the power structure through the existing democratic system is right in front of us, an opportunity that we would be beyond foolish to disregard.

The opportunity is for the people to bring down the power that they have given up. This means independent candidates in every constituency standing for election based on their knowledge of, understanding of and credibility in their local community.

For this opportunity to realize its potential it requires that there is at least some shared vision amongst all of these independents. A shared adherence to a common set of principles that will result in the prioritization of democratic change immediately upon election. These independent representatives need not share a common view of every aspect of local, regional and national policy; they need only share a commitment to the implementation of a truly democratic system that will devolve power down to the level most capable of making the right decisions for sustainable prosperity.

Such candidates derive their credibility primarily from their position and reputation within the community that they seek to represent, not their party affiliation. They are being elected with a mandate to change the way we change things, so that at the next election we will be empowered to select the kind of change we want. First we need the capability for change, then we can select the type of change we need.

I propose that the next UK election be primarily framed as the opportunity to create a system that will allow change. The next election should be all about electing a chamber that will preside over the adoption of a new Constitution within its first term. To do this work right we are much better off with a parliament full of Common citizens, than a House full of politicians.

We must make necessity the mother of our vision. We will not get sustainable prosperity without enhanced democracy, and enhanced democracy will result in a demand for a reformed socioeconomic fabric. Our shared vision must account for all three of these elements if it is to have cohesion, clarity and credibility.

So screw the two main parties, the third parties and all the fringe complaining parties. Let's elect some real representatives and give them a mandate for real change. I understand the desire for certainty of outcome but right now the only certainty we have is that without fundamental reform of our democratic processes we are destined for climactic catastrophe, and we have already squandered all the extra time that we had to ponder our options and discuss the alternatives. There is the risk of a fascist grab for power as disillusionment and despair set in around the ruins of our once great corporate market capitalist military political complex. There will be a putsch to centralize power in the face of increasing disruption, and we all know where that path leads to... if you don't, pick up a history book. We need to de-centralized power to survive and this is the chance of a lifetime to do that.

I do see a role for the Standards of LIFE in all of this. It is not as a political "party" or as some kind of central organization controlling people. It is as a set of ideas that paints a vision that belongs to the people. A common vision so rooted in common sense that it is self evident on receipt, and so simple in application that it is realistically achievable. A vision hewn from the universal nature of humanity, flexible enough to be shaped by the diaspora that adopts it.

If we can use the Standards of LIFE to create a shared vision for change among 646 independent minded candidiates in the UK (UK LIFE), that's a role for the Standards of LIFE that I can believe in.

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If you want to make this happen, get in touch with me and we can work on it together.