It is 'Custodianship', not 'Government'

Simon Heffer has the op-ed piece in today's Daily Telegraph in which he maintains that doing the right thing for Britain must be Mr Cameron's first concern. It is not the object of this post to discuss Heffer's assertions, however one phrase particularly stood out and that was:

"If those who govern us can spare a moment........."

Perhaps the belief that we need to elect representatives to govern us is where our present system of democracy falls at the first hurdle. As a people we do not need anyone to 'govern' us as individuals, we are quite capable of 'governing' ourselves - what we do need are elected representatives to safeguard our nation and to perpetuate its continued existence as an independent, self-governing country and in so doing preserve our traditions and way of life. Therefore it follows that when we elect those representatives they should be chosen as custodians of our nation, not a government of our nation.

Unfortunately, over recent decades, by allowing politicians to usurp our freedoms of choice, thought, word and deed, we have contributed to the present situation whereby politicians are now able to dictate to us and, in treating us as children, to assume the role of a parent. Presently we are subjected to exhortation, guidance, even diktats, issued by not only government, but also quangos, fake charities and the like, on almost every aspect of our lives. At this juncture it is worth recalling the words of Keith Joseph, in a speech he gave on Saturday 19th October 1974 at the Grand Hotel, Birmingham:

"The populist rulers of Rome thought they had hit on a foolproof method of achieving a permanent curb on their patrician rivals when they created a dependent proletariat relying on them for bread and circuses; but in the end it destroyed the political stability of Rome, and so Rome itself fell, destroyed from inside. Are we to be destroyed from inside, too, a country which successfully repelled and destroyed Philip of Spain , Napoleon , [Kaiser Wilhelm II ] the Kaiser, Hitler , are we to be destroyed by ideas, mischievous, wrong-headed, debilitating, yet seductive because they are fashionable and promise so much on the cheap?"

And therein lies the way forward - once we the people have regained our rightful place within the democratic hierarchy of this country, never, ever, again must we allow our elected representatives to assume that they - and only they - are capable of 'governing' us and deciding our individual futures.

Digressing slightly, in allowing our politicians to usurp power, it has also become obvious that an old adage is only too true, namely that:

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

On the truth of that adage it is worth mentioning that in seeking power and, once achieved, in wishing to retain that power, politicians very often say things that, later, they wish they hadn't. Witness:

"I joined this party because I believe in freedom. We are the only party believing that if you give people freedom and responsibility, they will grow stronger and society will grow stronger."
David Cameron 2005


"The red flag has never flown throughout these islands yet, nor for a thousand years has the flag of any other alien creed."
Michael Heseltine 1976

Cameron has obviously decided that never again will the people be allowed true freedom and Heseltine ensured that for the first time in a thousand years the flag of an alien creed does fly throughout our islands.