Post by steveb on Mar 22, 2014 9:08:56 GMT
Any 38 Degrees members reading this might have seen this already, but I thought I'd post it anyway as I found it an interesting video. David Babbs (of 38 degrees talks) to the parliamentary inquiry into voter engagement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GforkpduUNg
I thought that Babbs was excellent in replying to the hostility in the room, and that the interview was an insight into the thinking of the political establishment and also the difficulty of telling politicians the hard truths that a good many of them are deaf to.
Voter disengagement at elections is one of several current major crises for democracy, but I would put before that the more general disconnection between the public and MPs. How many people in our Positive Money group have made moves or would feel confident in making personal contact with their MP? - a minority I would speculate, and we are a campaigning organisation !
I think that -as David Babbs said, the problem is cultural, both on the part of the public but more so the political class. If we are to apply pressure on our legislators for monetary reform, we need to be more demanding of our representatives. Of course it would help if those MPs actually responded to our communications, which they sometimes don't- something that I have found frustrating.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GforkpduUNg
I thought that Babbs was excellent in replying to the hostility in the room, and that the interview was an insight into the thinking of the political establishment and also the difficulty of telling politicians the hard truths that a good many of them are deaf to.
Voter disengagement at elections is one of several current major crises for democracy, but I would put before that the more general disconnection between the public and MPs. How many people in our Positive Money group have made moves or would feel confident in making personal contact with their MP? - a minority I would speculate, and we are a campaigning organisation !
I think that -as David Babbs said, the problem is cultural, both on the part of the public but more so the political class. If we are to apply pressure on our legislators for monetary reform, we need to be more demanding of our representatives. Of course it would help if those MPs actually responded to our communications, which they sometimes don't- something that I have found frustrating.