I’m all grown up…
I just enrolled in politics… well, not exactly enrolled per se - but I have become politically active. I’ve joined Radikale Venstre as a member in Aalborg. I’ve always been politically interested - but up till now, I’ve never cared enough to actually join a party. Also, I had a hard time seeing the actual differences between the political partys. I guess, what really sparked me was my wife. She has opened my eyes to some of the… well, alternative societies in Denmark. To be more specific, she lived in Ungdomshuset and has spent a lot of time in Christiania.
Back when I was young (I shudder everytime I say this…) I was a firm believer in liberal politics. If you worked hard you should be rewarded - if you didn’t, well… suck it up and go to work! A lot has changed - my views have broadened in my oppinion. At the moment, I can sum up my political views into a few keywords: Social responsebility, Freedom under responsebility and internationalization. Of course, it’s a crude way of putting me into a few boxes, and I have a lot to say for the different points, but still it gives you a quick overview of where I’m at, right now.
In Denmark we have publicly funded TV and as a result we have a secondary public channel: DR2. It airs all the alternative and/or narrowly targeted shows. Also, it reports live from debates in Folketinget - the Danish parlament. I’ve seen a few of these debates - and oh my god! It’s a kindergarden - no wait, it’s worse! Well, not all of the politicians are idiots - but there are indeed far more than I had ever imagined. It’s not so much that they sound like they never finished public school - I know a lot of smart people that never finished public school. It’s their arguments… *shudder* They spend most of their time destroying the debate with childish insults, broad generalizations about their opponents party, general slander and misinformation.
I’ve always been taught that when you point a finger, at least four fingers point at you. And these morons are the single greatest threat to the future of everyone of us. Luckily, I’ve done my research - and it turns out that most deals are designed ‘out-of-court’. Which means that the charade, I’ve been watching is mainly for show. It’s there to give politicians a chance to stand up and speak their piece (mainly, when it has been discarded in the political process in the halls…) and give voters a feeling how stuff should work - you know, democratic process and all that jazz…
But back to why I chose this particular party. Basically their slogan says it all ‘We think, you can!’ (roughly translated) - meaning ‘you don’t need a government telling you how to do stuff - you are much better at that’. Not that they think the government isn’t needed - it just shouldn’t spend it’s time micro-managing every little detail. I agree (well, duh…). The current government has introduced a number of controlling organs that is supervising everything from how teachers teach to how food inspectors should inspect. Remember, these are organs outside the organisation that is doing the actual work - they still have control organs of their own. This all amounts to health personel spending more timing filling out different schemas basically covering their own arse than actually spending time on the people that need them.
It creates a culture of arse-covering rather than a culture of innovation and prosperity. Instead of looking at what the problem is and actually getting the work done, we create task-forces and focus groups inspecting everything. All creating a paper-hell of staleness and thus creating new problems as the time that should have been spent picking up slack - is used filling out forms.
Also, the party I joined, embraces differences - it is not a given that everyone should clap their heels and salute everytime the leaders decide on a path. Political debate is expected and welcomed in favour of spin. It makes for a broad party with interesting perspectives. Radikale Venstre is often critized for not taking a black/white stance to general problems. In Danish the term radikal (radical) is often associated with fickleness. I disagree (well, duh…), I think it is pretty smart not to judge everything as a whole - and instead look at specific cases, and then choose what is right. If you only get to choose either a hammer or a saw for construction… edges will either be scruffy or it will be a problem to get it more than half a meter high… A different analogy: “If all you have is a hammer, pretty soon everything will look like a nail”.
Oh, and as curiosum - my party is at the moment in a media-storm… well, actually a fresh breeze blowing in a small glass of water. One of their main figures has branched out and created a new party. The media has spent a lot of time trying to create drama! Everyone knows that a silent break-up isn’t as interesting as when chairs are thrown - so, every member leaving for this new party is interviewed and scrutinized. Each of them might hold a key to a political drama of great dimensions. Basically, what we know at the moment is that my party has suffered a net loss of about 150 members (out of around 9200) and the new party has gained somewhere in the vicinity of 9000 members (numbers from 2 to 15 thousands have been thrown here and there - but it seems they will settle at about 9000). It doesn’t take a scientist to calculate that it is probably not only Radikal members shifting to the new party.
But I welcome this new party - they share a lot of political views (well, something must have rubbed off…). Of course, there are differences, but also a lot of common ground. If this new party is a success it might a) attract new members and votes from all over the political spectrum and b) tip the scales for a better government. All is speculation at this point, but you can always dream. But I’ll give the party actual time to form a political agenda, before jumping the gun and announcing a new coalition… But good luck to them anyways - it certainly gives my party a chance to focus on politics instead of internal political strife.
So, now I’m actually politically active - I’ll still never be a politician, though…