Manifesto: A New Ideology

[headcube]

Recently I've had a lot of thoughts about things I want politicians to say, but which they are not saying. It feels like right now we've got a choice between two ideologies - league tables and top-down micromanagement versus a religious faith in the power of the free market - both of which are stupid, false and dangerous. So I thought I'd compile

Comments

[umbriel]

Yup, I'd vote for you.
Get on it.

[kilinrax]

I would up to her ... While we will not pursue policies that would cause multinationals to leave Britain ....

You'd have to be prepared to kick some out, or they would continue to exploit your unwillingness to do so. I'd start with McDonalds.

[headcube]

That's a good point. I put that in because the problem with kicking the multinationals out is that it would cause job losses. But thinking about the McDonalds example, perhaps it could be done gradually by making it easy (via tax breaks or subsidies or whatever) for McDonalds managers and employees to buy out the restaurant and turn it into a local business - which would be pretty ideal really. So I guess I should amend that sentence to While we will not pursue policies that would cause undue job losses due to multinationals leaving britain....

[dj_stillborn]

Aren't McDonalds a franchise though?

And I think the initial statement is right, what you'd need is to take a course of action that leads to a change in business practices on a global scale. Just making changes locally would drive multinationals out and like them or dislike them, they employ a hell of a lot of people.

[headcube]

Yeah, the restaurants are franchised - so they're a local business in a very specific sense of the word, but they're still very much controlled from the top - and their main purpose is to extract money from customers and pass as much as possible up the chain, bypassing the local people who actually work there

[kieran418]

I'd vote for you, but only 'cos you have a nice beard.
And let's face it, that's what politics is all about these days ;)

The only problem I can see is that you'd have to include some universities specialising in "Economics lite" otherwise the world and his friend would have to become workers in industry rather than having a nation of university educated service managers as is clearly the "only" way that a great nation such as ours can operate, in a world economy.

Give it a go, stand in Brighton, let's face it, if they can elect a cartoon character anyone is in with a chance.
A thoroughly interesting read though, I reckon you may have a chance, try for the local council elections and see if it works if nothing else you'd get a 4 year supply of nice biscuits out of it.