Why I Joined Young Labour
A few weeks ago, I joined the Labour Party. I did this because not only am I in agreement with them regarding the majority of their policies, but I am also extremely sympathetic to their general ideology and that, I believe, is one of fairness and equal opportunity .
I have not always been a Labour supporter. When I was studying Politics at college, I had more sympathy with the Conservative Party. What changed my mind was taking A-Level Sociology. This is, of course, the study of society, and during the course we covered class, culture, racism, modernity, personal identity, and other topics. I had always got high grades at school, and I believed this was because I had worked hard to get them. I saw my good grades as a well-deserved reward. Indeed, I’m sorry to say I was actually quite arrogant about it – especially since I didn’t go to a private school. Anyone can get good grades, I thought, if they work hard enough. What I totally failed to take into account was the massive amount of help and encouragement I had always had from my parents; the happy home I completely took for granted because I had never known anything different; the fact that I had been born white, English, and middle class and so therefore had never had to experience racism or prejudice, either of the class or race variety. Of course you need to work hard to get good grades, but some children have to work much harder than others to achieve the same thing, and that is unjust any way you look at it.
During my two years of studying Sociology, I learnt a lot about the various obstacles and prejudices that certain people have to struggle to overcome in society. I learnt about institutionalised racism; and domestic violence; and the standard of life one can expect to receive on benefits; and how a person can be defined by their disability or ethnicity or class or gender or sexuality or nationality. When you look at the stats from studies exploring which children do well at school, and which don’t, there are definite patterns that emerge, and it is quite evident that, even from such a young age, certain people are already at a disadvantage. There is a sort of lottery going on when a baby is born – it might end up in a secure, loving, stable home, with family who will encourage it to do well, and give it all the help possible, or it mind end up in a home that is broken or abusive or severely poor.
I believe that the Labour party does the most to rectify this unfairness. I believe that it stands up for the many, and not just for the few. Its commitment to public services alone helps to correct inequality rather than perpetuating it. Ditto for their child tax credits and Sure Start centres. I don’t want a government that will give inheritance tax breaks to the richest 3,000 estates; bring back fox hunting; and arbitrarily reward marriage with tax cuts; to say nothing of the risk to economic recovery.
I do not disagree with the Conservatives over everything. Nor do I agree with the Labour Party over everything, but I do agree with them most of the time. Human beings are fallible. Governments and political parties are made up of human beings and are, therefore, also fallible. It’s not rocket science. So I do not think that the self-satisfied accusation of “Imperfection” levelled against Labour by the other parties can possibly carry any weight at all. Surely no one believes for a moment that if the last thirteen years had been spent under the Tories or the Lib Dems, no mistakes would have been made. That is the fallacy of the rhetoric. “Whiter than white” is simply an impossibility where human beings are concerned. If an infallible government is what the public wants then I fear they will be perennially disappointed. What it must come down to is which political party has found the least bad way of doing things, and which one’s ideology is most in alignment with your own. For me that party is definitely Labour. That is why I joined the party, and that is why I will be voting for them tomorrow.
Tags: Politics
May 6th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Regarding idea of an infallible government, let me quote from one of my favorite political documents, the Federalist Papers #51 (believed to be authored by James Madison): “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Governments, political parties, humans are flawed and self-interested. There is no perfect altruist. Nothing much, I daresay, has changed since Madison penned that.
I understand your choice of the Labour Party, even if I myself, were I in Great Britain, would make an entirely different and opposite choice. My ideology lies much more with the ideal of small and limited government, of conservative values and low rates of taxation, and the idea that it is not for governments to take from Peter to pay Paul, transferring wealth from those who have it to those who do not.
But that is not to say that we cannot have a civil discussion of such things, or that I wish anyone in Labour ill. Well, except to the extent that I wish that they would not win, of course, and that their Conservative rivals will sweep into the House of Commons triumphant. But that is for the electorate to decide.
May 13th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I would always rather talk politics with someone who supports the Conservatives or the Lib Dems than with someone who already agrees with me. Interesting political discussion is best generated by disagreement. That’s one of the reasons I have no problem being entirely open about my political views.
May 18th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Interesting views on politics. Cant say that I disagree with you on anything so therefore I don’t expect a response, as your response was you would rather talk to someone that has different view then you. the only thing we might disagree on is having parties to choose from at all. Regardless of what one party believes there is always people who will disagree. In America we have three major parties and none to me have ever seemed like a good choice so I stay unaffiliated with any party. I like to stick to my own views on what is right and wrong and would wish that others stuck to there own views. Politics can be tricky because for one we the general public never really know the behind the scenes deals that go on, we are never allowed to sit in on private talks or vote on rather important bills that change the way our countries work or do business.
May 20th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Michael - I think there has to be a minimum number of core ideological issues that you agree with a party on in order to make joining them worthwhile. I joined the Labour party for this reason, but I still have my own opinions on what is right and wrong, and I wouldn’t hesitate to disagree with Labour if I thought their policy choices were unethical in some way.
It may not be perfect, but because of the size of the societies we live in, politics has to be about parties rather than individuals because of practicality issues.
I agree that politics is tricky in that the public do not have access to the same amount of information. This is akin to the question of whether laypeople can ever really give informed consent for medical procedures since - not being medically qualified - can we ever really completely understand the implications of what the doctors are trying to explain to us? This is an issue in politics, especially where matters of national security are concerned, but I do not think it precludes ordinary people having their own political opinions, especially when it comes to ideological issues within their own society.