Events in UK politics last week provided a feeding frenzy for the sensation seeking reporters who inhabit the Westminster bubble. It’s referred to as a bubble because it insulates itself from the realities and concerns of ordinary British voters, and perceives life through the lens of ideological and political machination, regardless of the real world outside.
The frenzy revolved around three women MPs – Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen – who publicly quit the governing Conservative and Unionist Party. They are now sitting with 8 MPs who recently resigned from the Labour party and formed a new Independent Group of MPs called TIG – The Independent Group.
This new mixed, “centrist” Group has no coherent political philosophy, sharing only a hatred of Brexit and a perception that the two main parties of UK politics – the Conservative party and the Labour party – are now in the hands of people they see as Extremists.
Interestingly these three Conservatives all want another Referendum on Brexit [in order to stop it] and constantly plead for democracy.
But none of them is prepared to resign and stand in a by-election to obtain a mandate for their new position. They are blatantly opposing the very manifesto on which they were elected in 2017 promising to implement the Brexit Referendum result.
They refer to Brexit supporting Conservative MPs as extremists. But it is a matter of record and of public integrity that when Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless resigned from the Conservative party and joined the Brexit campaign party UKIP back in 2014, they both resigned their seats and won them back again as UKIP MPs in subsequent by-elections.
And that is telling, because the Truth and actually believing in the reality of Democracy are now seen as Extreme by far too many MPs and politicians in British politics [indeed in western politics] today.
For too many such politicians, politics is not about the real issues and real results of votes; it’s about how far the agenda is pushed towards what they perceive as right and true. If you disagree – even with a democratic vote on your side – they label you as extreme.
In fact they are being extreme. Their politics is to peddle pure propaganda. They smear their opponents in order to divert attention from the truth of what they are about. These 3 MPs make assertions about Right wing extremism in the Conservative party, and about far right infiltration, but cite no evidence. They take it as self evident because to them, their perception is the reality. They ignore inconvenient truth; they interpret what’s left their own way; they assume their predisposition is true.
This is the politics of PROPAGANDA.
The facts of the matter about the actual leanings and composition of the Conservative party have been examined by Allister Heath in the Daily Telegraph, and on the online platform, Conservative Home by Mark Wallace. Their points are pertinent and remind us of where things actually are. They are well worth comparing with the claims made by the 3 women MPs in their letter of resignation and in the press conference where Anna Soubry spoke of her resignation.
This prevalence of a Propagandic mentality in our western politics is serious and damaging. Politicians have always been prone to use the truth rather than play by the truth. In electoral politics this is almost inevitable. Each candidate and party wants to present themselves in the best light.
But this tendency has been made far worse by the insidious osmosis of the Marxist mindset into every area of our political life and culture.
Marx maintained that the international proletarian cause must triumph in the end. But to triumph it must be implemented by an enlightened elite committed to bring in the revolution and show the way for the ignorant masses. The State is to be the instrument for this.
For Marx, this was “The Truth” and so every event must be interpreted accordingly.
This insidious mindset is at work in our democratic politics today. Political Correctness is the psychological and conceptual manifestation. The domineering, bureaucratic and ideological European Union which will truck no discussion nor disagreement is the veritable incarnation.
Question its nature, existence and logic and you get an Anna Soubry condemning you as extreme.
But the evidence is before our eyes. The Withdrawal Agreement ‘negotiated’ by the Ideologically Remain Establishment is not about Withdrawal at all.
It ignores the Brexit vote and prepares the ground for increased integration.
How can this be happening ?
The Christian worldview has been eradicated from our culture.
In the Marxist worldview, the State System can solve all problems and those problems are caused by a class of people: the Capitalist. In the Christian mindset, however, the problem lies with sin in every individual heart and mind – and that’s where the problem must be addressed: ie personal responsibility for right and wrong.
I have an obligation before my Maker and my Judge to tell the truth and not to malign other people.
But in the Marxist mindset my ideology drives me to condemn a category of human beings identified as the cause of social evils.
Lenin’s Bolsheviks actually ended up murdering property owners whom they categorised as the evil exploiting capitalist class to be eradicated. They gave not a single thought to their own moral responsibility to other human beings. They usurped God’s place as the final arbiter of life and death because they had become god in their own cause. In the Materialist Marxist mindset, man becomes his own god – determining right and wrong in accordance with his ideology – the Christian Decalogue is trashed.
This Utilitarian, Godless Materialist mindset of Marxism is a disease in our body politic and compounds the intrinsic problem of democratic politics identified by Edmund Burke as “bidders at an auction of popularity”
We need to restore the Christian worldview to save democratic politics – and reject the posturing of politicians with scant understanding of political philosophy, or the need to take personal responsibility for their words and actions in the public arena.
Ray Catlin
Conservatism Institute 