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Stephen Booth · 19-04-2008, 08:29 PM

It is an important fact of our political life that the public is excluded from politics. People feel powerless, and participation in democratic institutions, councils, elections, and other things over time declines. A common experience is that people distrust politicians, and are completely cynical about 'consultation' exercises. Often these are felt to be fake, as are opinion polls and focus groups. Rarely, this feeling crystalises into a protest vote, usually it just leads to apathy and hopelessness.

The protest group 'Fathers For Justice' represented one kind of response to this situation, where protesters drew attention to their issue by putting on Batman and Robin costumes and climbing to the top of tall public buildings, the Severn Bridge and so on.

I don't think the political stunts route is any answer to this problem, and neither is the politics of celebrity, eg the 'Live 8' concert at the time of the Gleneagles G8 conference in July 2005.

So does anybody on here have an idea about how to address this problem? How do we increase public involvement and activity in politics?

19-04-2008, 08:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
Stephen Booth Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Galgate, Lancaster Posts: 156 Party: None	Public exclusion from politics It is an important fact of our political life that the public is excluded from politics. People feel powerless, and participation in democratic institutions, councils, elections, and other things over time declines. A common experience is that people distrust politicians, and are completely cynical about 'consultation' exercises. Often these are felt to be fake, as are opinion polls and focus groups. Rarely, this feeling crystalises into a protest vote, usually it just leads to apathy and hopelessness. The protest group 'Fathers For Justice' represented one kind of response to this situation, where protesters drew attention to their issue by putting on Batman and Robin costumes and climbing to the top of tall public buildings, the Severn Bridge and so on. I don't think the political stunts route is any answer to this problem, and neither is the politics of celebrity, eg the 'Live 8' concert at the time of the Gleneagles G8 conference in July 2005. So does anybody on here have an idea about how to address this problem? How do we increase public involvement and activity in politics? __________________ Britain Out of Europe Now !