Class

Have you noticed that class seems to be more on the minds of our politicians these days than on the minds of the people they sometimes represent?

Well David did go. So some of you got your wish fulfilled.

Personally I am sorry. British politics has an ever decreasing number of people from backgrounds like David's and frankly we need more of them.

It is interesting that a majority of you thought he should go, yet on the doorstep there is great support for him in our traditional working class areas. I think there is a class aspect to this. David certainly offended many middle class liberals and I understand why. I am not dismissing such arguments. They are important. But David talked the language of those who live in the high crime areas and they respond to him.

I always figured Blunkett as just some guy, you know, and had no interest whatsoever in his roots. In fact, I think it's completely irrelevant.

Also, class has nothing to do with objections to his policy decisions. For instance, I think that his ASBO initiative has been well received in the increasingly inaccurately described middle classes.

What does make the difference between those that agree with Blunkett's policies and those that do not is an idea. The idea that liberty is something to be valued and protected, and not something that you should be allowed to limit by degrees without very good and abundantly available reason and then only on a very temporary basis and only after that good reason is presented in crystal clear and undeniable terms to the country.

No one has a monopoly on ideas and no one has a monopoly on being a victim of crime and I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that the true class divide is between the politicians and everyone else.

Posted by John at December 17, 2004 09:54 AM | TrackBack