Ideas above their station

[blufive]

From an Interview with Lord Tebbit in Thursday's Independent:

Question:

Do you support [Singer-songwriter] Billy Bragg's proposals for the reform of the House of Lords [...]?

Lord Tebbit

I should think they're worth the same respect as my proposals on the reform of the pop music industry would be

The implication being: no respect at all. The further implication being that only politicans have the right to express an opinion on political subjects.

This is an attitude I see quite often in politicians, and it really annoys me.

Billy Bragg and I (if you'll forgive my pretensions for a moment) are citizens of this country. We pay taxes. We have the right to vote in elections. Together with the rest of the population, we hire politicians to run the country for us. We therefore have the right to discuss with those politicians how we think the country should be run.

Any politician who takes the attitude that we are "little people" whose opinions are irrelevant (and Lord Tebbit is far from unique in this) has a seriously warped view of how democracy is supposed to work. They're implying that voters aren't allowed to hold opinions, but merely choose between those offered by their political "masters".

The next time you hear a politico sounding off about how a [musician/actor/filmmaker/whatever] should stick to [music/acting/films/etc.] and leave politics to the professionals, remember that the politician is the one with ideas above their station.

Comments

[makyo.livejournal.com]

Fair comment, I think. I'm not sure I agree with all of Billy Bragg's suggested reforms, but I respect his right and his competence to make those proposals.