- Small state and the rule of law; a balance between central and local control
- Greater democratic control by a variety of democratic forms for each democratic tier, as appropriate
- Patriotic, not nationalistic; A Britain Internationalist in trade and outlook, but not subservient to Globalism
- A focus on the little platoons that will help build a strong and congruent British national identity
- Fairness, justice and equity both within and between the generations
- Pride in our values, confidence in our cause
- Sustainable and practical use of our land, seas and assets
- A nation slow to rouse, but strong to bite
NB being clear about what a party stands for implies those things it is against - they need never be stated explicitly. Negative aims turn people off.
(Uhm, I'm not volunteering to start one.)
16 comments:
Can fault any of those suggestions but might add...
Single rate of tax
Gold standard
Debt free money supply
Zero tolerance for free-loaders
Taxpayer approval of annual budget
Zero lobbying or outside employment for all politicians
Maximum two terms in office for all politicians
It would be simple to go on and on and I'm sure there are others happy to add to the list.
But doesn't the Harrogate Agenda cover many of these?
I think you'd be the perfect person to start the new party, but not perhaps whilst living in Austria - that has a bad precedent
Is that the same Harrogate Agenda that emanated from the Bradford bullhorn?
Mr. Always-Right?
The problem as I see it, is that whoever gets their hands on the tiller of power, whether democratically or otherwise, soon becomes the new 'elite' and 'establishment', and will need to be taken down a peg.
I remain wedded to the Swiss concept of democracy in that it leads to an informed, politically aware people that is not frightened of challenging those that would make assumptions.
right-writes
How about we pare this right down to just the three basic principles of government and start from there.
1) Secure the borders
2) Keep the peace
3) Empty the bins
A little too broad, those, IMHO. Something along the lines of the 2015 UKIP manifesto sounds good.
Only give state control those aspects that can only be done at national level - Foreign Affairs, Taxation for pensions and benefits only and Defence for example.
Elimination of NGOs
Tightly controlled immigration policy
FIFO - fit in or FO - in short, no ghettoisation
A proper "written" constitution that keeps all the rights etc from the 1689 Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and other constitutional acts except for 1972 ECA.
As Dave_G said - a good implementation of the Harrogate Agenda. If Switzerland can have minimal government and referenda on most subjects I don't see why we can't.
I was hoping that UKIP might go that way once we were out of the EU, the name could stay the same and the campaign would be for more personal independence from government.
An absolute but very difficult must do is tame the Civil Service mandarins.
Zero outside employment for all politicians mean that they draw salaries and pensions when they get kicked out, because they haven't had continuous employment in anything useful. I'd turn it on its head, and say that all politicians have to be completely unpaid, and to do the job voluntarily. That has the added advantage of knowing that they must at least be good at something. It also stops there being a cradle to grave political establishment.
The political landscape we all grew up in is emphatically no more. When the do-gooders took over politics became parody and the bombing started:
In the beginning was the word, and the word was 'equality'
War changes everything and with each war the do-gooders got us into the closer those changes came to our homeland. It's here now, and what passes for politics is in fact control because they lost our freedoms in bomb crater somewhere. Things are going to get heavy.
Steve
I agree with the majority of what you Radders and other above me have suggested. Anyway just to throw my two pence worth in ...
Perhaps limiting those elected to a certain number/terms of time as an MP. So that we don't get too much of an established political elite.
Definately the power of re-call over an elected MP.
Elected MPs to live and send their children to a school in their constitutency.
Benefits limited to two children .
If you want more, or your mediaeval holy book tells you to breed like rats with multiple wives, you pay.
Any benefits allocated to one nominated partner .No more allowing additional wives to count as "single mums".
Whatever you decide, don't call it "People's" anything. Too reminiscent of the People's Prime Monster, one T.Blurgh.
Just one I would like to see....... to make any attempt at overturning a democratically arrived at consensus/decision either through normal voting or referendum a treasonable offence and to bring back the punishment of hanging for treason.
Clive
Isn't your original list the sort of thing the Tories used to stand for? Why not join them and help to make sure they do so again?
When I was in Ukip, I used to hope they would see independence as more than just getting out of the EU, but most of the people in it don't think along those lines, or, indeed, along many lines at all.
I may have overlooked it (it's late) but to me one fundamental that can't be overstressed is:
Absolute equality before the law.
Just a thought...
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