(I really should put a link to the boxed set on Amazon to get a few pence if anyone clicks through it and buys this after I mention it....but sometimes, some things are not easy enough. Hang on - will have a go at this again, means I have to remember yet another login and password combination.... argh.)I have watched series 1-6 so far (for the third time) and it is now at the part where the campaign for the next President (they call it their General Election). It turns out to be race between Alan Alda (Arnold Vinick - Republican aka Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H) versus Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits - Democrat).
It is great TV with engaging characters and some absolutely brilliant dialogue - but you really have to pay attention or you miss it, so those of you browsing on your smartphones or tablets and allegedly watching it a the same time - you're missing it. What continues to astonish me is how so very far away it is from how things are done in the UK (are things really like that in the USA? - ed)
Do we as a nation get that excited about politics and particularly our politicians? Yes, if you read the newspapers or peruse the political blogs you can see some of the commentators frothing and foaming at the mouth about politics and what politicians should or shouldn't be doing to sort out 'Da Issue of Da Day' (tm)
However, my gut feeling is that we as a nation (England) just don't get that excited about politics and in particular the Prime Minister (PM) (for those overseas in the UK that is currently one David Cameron, not that he has much sway over Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales any more, so maybe he is simply representing the English, that is where most of the votes for his party came from in the last few elections). I feel that we seem them as a necessary evil.
However, as many commentators have mentioned, PM's have been getting more Presidential and that may be partly because they can sell themselves as the person you are voting for, whilst as a matter of fact you are only voting for your constituency MP - who may or may not have voted for the leader of the party!
Where is this leading, well one Anthony Blair did his best to make the PM Presidential, even down to having his own team inside No. 10 but outside of his government to try and bypass the Civil Service and get things done. Not much success there then Tony.
However, what Tony must have done was read a book called Bring Home the Revolution: The Case for a British Republic by Jonathan Freedland. Now, I read this some time ago and it was interesting to say the least and it seems that some of those ideas have percolated into the political classes, as we now have a Supreme Court, votes for Police Commissioners, votes on having Mayor's and so on, giving us more democracy is the theme. To take what is best from the US and bring it on home to Blighty. Worth a read if you like that kind of thing.
(Muted approval anyone - ed) You mustn't rush things, really you mustn't, I am getting there - just you wait and see. So moving on. There is a wonderful book called Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
by Kate Fox- one of my must read again books that captures the essence of Englishness (other opinions are purchasable - ed). I think she has done a great job of getting to the heart of what it means to be English and this is where the title comes in (finally - ed).As a nation the English give only muted approval to politics and to their politicians, because we just don't seem to get excited by them, we don't like or trust them. (Note I can't speak for the other nations in the Union, not that it will be a Union for much longer if the Scottish vote to leave. Don't understand why the English don't get a vote on it?).
Is there another Second Law of Politics coming, "Whether you vote or not, whichever voting system is used we all lose as the politicians still get elected"
There might be a later post on where we would be if there were no politicians at all, but that seems a little far off at the moment.
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