@globalloon 342678 wrote:
as an example, sweden is one of the most consistently left wing and socially progressive societies on earth yet has virtually no problematic drug use and a high level of social mobility for children born into “non-traditional” families
This may be true but Sweden also moved from a very tolerant stance to a much more hardline stance since the 1960s and again in the 1980s and they appear to still have very strong anti-drugs views. For instance they were the first EU nation to classify mephedrone….
Drug policy of Sweden – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OK I get the impression the criminal justice system and healthcare agencies work together much better than in Britain and there may also be a good rehabilitation scheme (which i understand is common across Scandinavia) but they still come across as more hardline than Britain.
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I appreciate you want to warn people against overdoing it but in doing so you come across as a massive apologist for the most heavily authoritarian government this country has seen in centuries
I would say I am simply being pragmatic and realistic about what is happening in this country. I’m not happy with the way things are going but britain isn’t a completely undemocratic country. “normal” people have the right to vote as they please and a lot of it isn’t merely people blindly following the right wing press but (misguidedly) being put off supporting “socialism” by experiences they have had at street level, particularly seeing friends and family succumb to addiction, a perception that welfare benefits are being given to the undeserving, and being seduced by the short term financial gains thatcherism brought to the middle classes in the 1980s. They mistakenly blame the “left wing” for being “overindulgent of people who have failed”, often because they do not hear (or refuse to hear) about the good things progressive organisations can do.
However, I was told about the failure of East Anglia’s alternative communities (most of which started in the 1970s when we had more left wing Labour governments) by a friend who is no rightwinger, he is a new age traveller who is a few years older than me and grew up around that scene…
I find it is only now that alternative groups are finally starting to create a better image for themselves – for instance with such things as transition towns, which appears to be a very progressive but “non-threatening” movement which also fits in well with mixed urban/rural landscapes. I make no apology though for constantly stating the past failings and bad news so those involved can improve.
After all the Tories are still managing somehow to convince people to vote for them despite the damage thatcho did to this nation, they must be doing something right. Its perfectly possible to create a better society which isn’t so much a slave to capitalism, but its not just gonna be done by drugs and hedonism, whilst at the same time the left wing clearly hasn’t yet put across enough of a strong campaign to make normal people vote for them and more importantly move towards different ways of living.
I would much rather see a left wing/social democratic government in this nation, but the only true social democratic party in that election for instance are the Greens, and they came below UKIP due to “anti-Europe” paranoia – despite or maybe paradoxically because of the fact the current free market system means much of East Anglia’s resources are owned by large European agri-businesses across the North sea!
its a very complex situation. I really don’t think the that all the people of East Anglia are bigoted redneck rightwingers, there are many progressive minded people in this region and I think even many of the tory voters are doing so begrudgingly but its going to take a lot to change hearts and minds of the normal person what initially only thinks of themselves and perhaps their close family and local community first rather than the bigger picture.
I have been in discussion with a lot of the original 70s hippy types in various regions who now realise where they went wrong “back in the day” but are still doing positive stuff – its a matter of not making the same mistakes again and getting something better in place in good time otherwise the centre right will win in the short term, despite their policies being divisive and unsustainable.
