By the people, for the people

Does it ever seem as if governments are not governing in the interests of their populations ? Does it ever feel to you as if 'national interests' don't include you ?

Wherever you look, it seems to me that governments, who seek a kind of spurious legitimacy through the ballot box to become elected dictatorships, are happily doing their own thing in spite of, rather than because of, the interests of their electorates.

Worse.

It feels as if people are simply viewed as a source of government income, in much the same way that ants keep hosts of aphids stuck up stalks to milk them periodically. An aphid doesn't get much of a social life, and as for insect democracy, well, they must wonder what has gone wrong.

At the moment the government here is writhing in agony as it accidentally got something right, and it has being attempting to wrong that right ever since. Why ? It voted against military action against Syria. Now yes, of course it seems obvious to you and me that hurling armaments at Syria isn't going to bring back any of their unfortunate populations, and it isn't going to provide a stable future for Syria. But it isn't at all obvious to politicians, whose first instinct seems tethered to gunboats and the modern equivalent.

In fact this strange and unwonted break from militarism gives us a whole new chance as a nation: how to participate constructively to solve a problem rather than crashing in and leaving a wake of destruction and social disintegration behind us. For once we have the luxury of thinking creatively about how best we can help a beleaguered population, how best to get aid through, how best to help ordinary Syrians who must be feeling a whole lot worse about the situation than I do.

But having militarism off the menu as an option, our poor politicians seem to be struggling to formulate sentences, never mind a strategy. The huge hope is that, if they can rise to the challenge of Syria, maybe in future we need not have militarism as our first response to problems of all sorts. We might replace it with a dynamic and vibrant alternative which is viewed with affection and respect, rather than the fear our politicos mistake for respect all too often.

For once, and apparently completely by accident, our politicians seem to have stumbled headlong and bewildered into the arms of the Zeitgeist.