It Is Easier To Lie Than Tell The Truth.

Following on from these posts here,here and here. Here is my contribution.

If you don't have to properly check your....

facts, if you don't have to be true to yourself - it is much easier to pander to people's prejudices, misconceptions and ignorance. Couple this with widespread control of the media and we can see why right-wing propaganda is so successful - if you say something often enough it catches on. If we say Ken Livingstone is a crook over and over again, most voters will begin to believe it, even if they have no idea what he has supposed to have done and even when he is probably the most honest, competent and hardworking politician of his generation. When you are one voice telling the truth amongst many fibbers - it is the fibbers who will probably win out.

It also takes time to check facts, do proper research and results are never black and white - this is another bugbear of the Left. In this age of 24 hour media and 30 second sound-bites, how do we get across subtle points on complex issues? It is easy for the Right, they just exaggerate, distort, blatantly lie and can repeat these lies until they become mainstream and accepted - it helps them that most media do less than scratch the surface of most subjects - which is partly why religion, racism and other ignorance still exists. The Right have the power to shout the loudest and shout most often to make sure their points are heard - because they own most of the media. Commercial interests are always going to be skewed against the consumer and voter interests. Those who pay the billions in advertising to the media each year are going to call the shots in every debate and it is in their interests to call for lower taxes on the wealthy at the expense of the poorest and for transport, healthcare, education and other public services to provide better services to the middle classes than the majority who are poor.

So how do the Left fight back?

Well most importantly we do have the facts on our side. The Right cannot deny what people see with their own eyes, what they experience in their daily lives, and this is why we need to hand as much power as possible to the people. Democracy is the left-wing friend. The lack of it in the Soviet Union was the reason why socialism could never have succeeded there.

Unfortunately the Labour party has moved towards the Soviet model of socialism i.e. without the democracy - so debate is stifled within the party and members views suppressed, membership falls as members are seen more as a nuisance than an asset. Why have Labour done this? When faced with the power of a distorting media and electoral system and the wealthy business class who control the economy, the Labour response was understandable - they decided to play by the right-wing rules of the game - so they could not just flittingly win power for one term but stay there. For a decade this has sort of worked, the economy was kept benign and the wealthy untroubled. This enabled much social change on equalities for minorities, doubling of public sector spending on health and education and worker protection, even tentative freedom of information rules. For all the talk of Tories being libertarian, don't be surprised if the FOI rules are the first to go. It is laughable that an anti-gay, hang 'em, flog 'em Tory is now being lauded by the head of Liberty - like their support for speeding drivers and opposition to ID cards, CCTV and DNA databases, it shows how their priorities have been skewed into theoretical perfection rather than practical improvements in people's lives. Their support for David Davis rather than the Greens who are the true libertarian standard holders in the by-election, takes them beyond even this stupidity into the realms of courting right-wing popular-ism - even Liberty cannot deny the power of the right-wing press.

So for all the admirable progress of this Labour government, unless they embrace democracy, it is likely to be lost to a Tory government elected by a small minority of the electorate. I find it difficult to understand how or why the manifesto commitment on PR was avoided by a Labour government in power for a decade. It is clear that enough Tories and dimwits have infected the party to take it away from the true will of the people. Even now, Labour could put this right - but it is just not going to happen. To change to PR and prevent this right-wing government being imposed once again on a reluctant public would be the first step on the road to a socialist fight-back. All we can do in the party is keep making the argument - elect Ann Black to the NEC, and offer an inclusion of PR in the 'partnership in power' documents being drawn up this week.

It is sad to see the slow death of a Labour government that could be out of power for another generation as the Tories alter boundaries in their favour and abolish the broadcast rules on impartiality. The real losers are not the Labour party, but the people, they can see corporate interests override the majority and feel powerless to stop it - just like in the good 'ol US of A. The land of the free - my ar**!