Thoughts on government 2

Now while I've stated elsewhere that I'm a little bit stupid and know almost nothing about the world and those who dwell in it, like almost all young people I've occasionally mused about our current system of politics and thought of the things that I would change were I in charge. And, likewise, in my folly I've sometimes thought those ideas good. So what I thought I would do is list some things here and then see what y'all think: there are obviously some great and learnéd minds on this forum and I'm sure I'd appreciate your input and feedback. Hopefully I could find some education and modify my admittedly ill-informed views. So here are some of the things that come to mind...

1. I think my overarching view of government is that it should be based on sound ethics and morals. I suppose that's impossibly vague and, probably, we all think that we're living ethical and moral lives anyway, wildly divergent as they are, but as an example I would say that it seems to me that our government often seeks to do what is most beneficial in an economic sense rather than in a human sense. Also, I think there is too much government - like a good waiter, the best form of government should be one that exists to serve its 'clients' and does so almost invisibly - and I think it rather an odd state of affairs that politics should dominate the news and our minds to such an extent. Is it really necessary? Is it really so complex and important? Could not government operate quietly and without fuss, merely as the oil that keeps the mechanisms of society moving smoothly? Simplicity would also be another key facet.

2. I think a move away from having an army would be a good idea. As humanity has become more enlightened, the idea that we need violence to solve our conflicts has started to appear more and more preposterous and primitive. It is, of course, good that we should have the ability to defend our land. But is it defensible to spend the billions of pounds we do on weapons of mass destruction, that are so very rarely put to use? And to fight wars in distant lands for causes that hardly any of us comprehend, but which many of us suspect are to do with oil and, ultimately, with making money for others far from the frontline? Our men and women die in these distant lands and we somewhat patronisingly label them 'heroes' to paste over the futility. To paraphrase a popular American bumper sticker: "it will be a great day when education gets all the money it needs and the army has to hold a jumble sale to buy a tank." War seems an increasingly old-fashioned pastime: how odd the idea that we once battled so bloodily and for so long with our neighbours across the Channel! As a nation I would like to think we are beyond killing and maiming and destruction. And as far as the economy goes...wouldn't this simple act [of disbanding the army] pretty much solve every financial problem we have? I don't know much about it, but apparently it's worked wonders in the far more vulnerably-positioned Costa Rica.

3. Furthermore, stop making guns and instruments of killing: it’s barbaric and does no good and it makes hypocrites of us who tut-tut at the violence on our streets and among our youth when we at the same time sanction it with our economy and with our actions.

4. Why does tax have to be so complicated? There seems to be dozens of different opportunities to pay tax – from income, from business, on sales, on purchases, on petrol, on imports and exports, stamp duty and inheritance and every little thing – but need it be so complex? The government (country) needs income and we (the people) contribute through our taxes. So let us contribute a percentage of what we earn and leave it at that. Things cost money – I’m thinking the essential things like healthcare, education, policing, sanitation, etc – and I suppose there ought to be a figure about how much that costs and then let that figure be spread out amongst the populous. But why do people who receive money from the government then sometimes pay it back in tax? How much could be done away with by a simplification of the system? And what of all the people employed in the maintenance of this system? And why VAT?

Some things I think should be done away with. Inheritance tax and stamp duty I would include in these. I mean, what have the government done to earn that money? And what do you get in exchange for it?

Road tax, I think, should be abolished and instead replaced with a further tax on fuels. The roads cost x amount to maintain and improve; let that x amount come from the people that actually use them. But is it fair for a person who drives 100 miles a year to have to contribute the same amount as someone who drives 100,000? To tax fuel – to the amount that is required – is almost equivalent to ‘pay as you go’. And that seems fair.

Likewise, we know that tobacco and alcohol costs x amount in healthcare and crime – so let the cost be paid by those that use it. No more, no less.

(On drugs: a debate as to whether it’s right to allow only certain toxic and intoxicating products, or none, or all.)

I imagine with the disbanding of the army, and the savings presented by a streamlined and fairer system of taxation – one that matches the nation’s income to expenditure (with an eye to cutting also the millions and millions that are frivolously wasted) – income tax would be cut dramatically. Although I suppose I could be totally wrong in all of this (inviting here people to point out all the holes. Also, anybody know how much it actually costs ‘to run the country’? That would be a good starting point).

5. The price of rail travel has gone mental. Something needs to be done about that. It can’t be right that it’s so expensive here compared to equivalent countries.

6. I do believe that the education system has gone to pot, and that it’s meddling bureaucrats who have probably never set foot in a school that are to blame. Teachers work under enormous pressure. The paperwork and demands pile up. And people can debate the right or wrong way until the end of time – or we can simply look at the way things are and ask if anything has improved for however many decades it’s been of Ofsted and league tables and increasingly large amounts of exams and ever more complex systems of grading (I think I’ve even read somewhere that a system absent of grading could be more effective). Teachers aren’t happy; pupils aren’t happy; things are forever being changed and tampered with and not very much of it facilitates what education should actually be about. So now we have a system that compels teachers to force Shakespeare and grammar on children who can barely write their own name (I’m speaking from experience here) and then blames those self-same teachers when the results aren’t as they would like them to be. But – forget results! And let the teachers teach! I’m sure they know what they’re doing – on the whole – and I’m not sure how many of them really feel that anyone benefits from endless lesson planning and observation and grading and reports. Here’s what I would do:

1. Lower class sizes. Probably the single most important thing when it comes to classroom management and discipline.
2. Tailor an education more specifically to the child. Let everything be available but let’s not force someone who is obviously going to go into something like plumbing (and please don’t ever imagine that I’d think that a lesser trade; far from it) to endure countless wasted hours struggling with Romeo and Juliet, etc. People like to do different things: some people love to play sport. So more sport and less poetry if they want it! A bit of understanding of our differences and diversities.
3. Relax the obsession with grades. Maybe they’re useful, and maybe they’re pointless and debilitating. But increasingly it seems that education has become grade and results-focused, and not so much about education at all.

7. Talking of education, hasn’t the university system gone mad? Labour had this idea that 50% of people should go to uni – which sort of makes the concept of a degree pointless. University used to be for the academically brightest among us: was it necessarily a bad thing? When I was at uni I saw work that wasn’t much in advance of the brightest 12 year-olds I taught – and spelling that was substantially worse. The increase in tuition fees has caused a big furore, and perhaps rightly so given the quality of the education offered, which doesn’t, in my opinion, represent value for money. But providing it on the cheap given the numbers who want and now expect to go is no longer viable either. Personally, I’m quite interested in a return to university as a place for serious education and a movement away from ‘drinker’s degrees’. Let’s face it, students might not like to have to pay more for their courses – but then a fair percentage of them are just there for the knees up anyway.

8. Immigration is complex: I mean, I’m as likely as the next man to have my ire temporarily raised by the latest Daily Mail headline (before I remind myself that us native whites do things just as naughty) and, after all, didn’t we spend several centuries going to other countries and robbing their assets? What goes around comes around. And maybe the answer is simply to raise our hands and let karma take its course. But I’m not sure the apologetic dilution of the culture is what we want. Then again, one day in the distant future I do believe that we’ll be looking at a one-world government, and the end of separate nations and borders, and I think working towards and doing what supports that would be a good idea. Although what that would look like in practicality, I’m not sure. Maybe like what we have now.

9. Is there much more to government than that? I think we should look after our environment and protect what we have left. I think if we want to build new houses and such we should look at places that have already been built on and redevelop there first. I think we should look at what promotes mental well-being and focus on that rather than the purely financial aspect of life. I’m not sure about democracy as such (quote Churchill) – I’m not sure the general mass of men are really the ones we want deciding the fate of things (we’re really not that smart: we read The Sun and adore Clarkson and fritter away our lives watching Eastenders and Strictly Come Dine With Me) and I’d be more in favour of a meritocracy. Though dangers there, obviously (who decides who’s most competent?) Also…

1. Do we need so many MPs? What are the advantages to having several hundred of them?
2. Let’s join the Euro. Or the dollar. Or anything that moves towards the inevitability of a one-world currency.
3. Support the arts! Seems to me that Britain’s greatest contribution to the world in recent decades has been in the field of music and television and comedy. So let’s rejoice in that, not slash funding.
4. Stop waste. I have a friend who works in government and I know a little about how much gets frittered away on consultants and reports that are never read and conferences and expenses: I imagine the true amount is staggering.
5. Again, lose the obsession with the economy. Life is boom and bust. Things grow and things die. Spend more time trying to understand and accept this rather than fighting it. It really doesn’t matter.
6. Obviously: less health and safety laws.

So I think that’s it for now. I will say again that these are simply the ideas of someone who doesn’t know much about politics (actually, read: anything) but who would like to put them out there, and have them challenged and discussed by people who do, in order to perhaps modify them and learn something, and to see how they fare.