Tammy and the Holy Grail

I was beginning to believe that there is no such thing as ‘the political party for me’. With due apologies to Monty Python, my quest for that elusive perfect ideological match is a bit like the search for the Holy Grail. Politics is a more temporal subject but there are plenty of dragons to slay along the way and the chances of finding purity are non-existent, which is why Sir Galahad is a myth and the grail is the subject of Vatican intrigue. That is one of the lessons read to me in the last week. The fact that I am still looking for the right party to join is testament to the fact that the lesson may have been taught but not learnt.

One thing I have learnt is that our political leaders are not interested in hearing what anyone has to say. And it makes perfect sense: imagine the chaos if independent thought was encouraged and every member of a political party tried to impose his or her view on the rest. It would result in factions and necessitate endless suspensions. This has nothing to do with political ideology but with the culture of sycophancy. It works like this: you sit at the feet of the leader, which oddly is also where the ears are located, and reinforce a misplaced belief as to how they turn the world round. It ensures you don’t need to do any real work to stay in the game, just let platitudes roll off the tongue. This has invaded all spheres of life and as a result we have turned normal and productive people into monsters.

WikiLeaks have confirmed our worst fears: it’s not those who we elect to office that govern this country but a handful of people in distant lands. All around me people are throwing their tied up hands up in despair. Cynics tell me to forget the civilians and to join the biggest, most efficient, most disciplined party in the country. It will eventually revert back to them, they say. Why should it, unless we allow it to? We allow them to break the oath they take under the constitution and then do not support political movements to take back their space by branding them incompetent. Their incompetence comes from us as we are just too lazy to do anything about it. We are not the first nation to have serious economic and political issues and the mere fact that we are willing to recognise that there is a problem is half the battle. Solutions are plentiful and the political will must come from us.

Despair is no longer an option, especially when the answer is in front of you: continue with the democratic process, strengthen it by working on the implementation of all that beautifully written policy because an educated and empowered people are the only force that gives you credibility and empowers you enough to govern. It’s not a question of who came first; it is about a need to take this journey together. If anyone thought choosing a political party would be done in a week they need to come join me in my quest.

Dragons and sycophants are not easy to slay but that’s no reason not to continue to split infinitives and to boldly go where no one else wants to go. I have packed my bag of demands and, undeterred, am travelling down that yellow brick road to see if it takes me out of Oz.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2010.