Next, Please

In a Parliamentary Democracy the people are represented by those whom they select as the likeliest candidates in a roster of possibilities in exercising their franchise to bring into Parliament honoured members ostensibly dedicated to the public weal. Conservatives, liberals, socialists, labourites, environmentalist parties, they all have the opportunity to present their platforms, assemble their faithful, pluck from them likely candidates for public office, and promise to faithfully represent to the best of their abilities, those who have cast their vote.

Sounds good in theory and works well enough, given that other systems of governance are none too palatable. Populations chafe at having to live under the iron thumb of dictators, the lofty yet ironbound theism of religiously-represented states, the autocratic social elite, the royalty who see their whims as the wish of the populace, the tyrants who brook no restiveness among those whose lives they carelessly impact. Among human constructs to bring order to society, democracy appears the fairest, most trustworthy alternative.

Trouble is, we're dealing with the frailties of human nature. Shy and retiring individuals don't seek to run for public office. Those imbued with more than their share of brash ego, skilled at manipulating the opinions of others, most often seek to impose their unerring view of the rightness of things by seeking public office. Launch publicity campaigns, persuade a sizeable number of voters to cast ballots for them, and win that popularity contest. Respect, prestige, and the opportunity to enact and change the law of the land.

One party is popular at a given time, reflecting broad social issues that catch the public imagination, and as long as the economy is bubbling along and there are no untoward instances of the party being too long in the ascendancy, with few whiffs of scandals reflecting bias, entitlements, and snuffling at the public trough, they can rest on their laurels. Resting upon which burnishes certain assumptions, and ethical rectitude is relaxed, while morals saunter off to a netherland.

It's inevitable, it seems. One party too long in power, stumbling into man-made cowpies earning public rage. Time for another party to step in, demonstrate its determination to bring order to the chaos left by the reigning opponent, promising to enact new laws to counteract the open loopholes availing members of parliament to claim illicit and undeserved entitlements and it's out with the old, in with the new. A hiatus of nose to the grindstone, then slippage, time after time after time.

In Britain allegations of expense-padding, illegal claims for extraordinary expenses have embarrassed the Labour government of Gordon Brown. Goodbye, it's been nice to know you. Time for a clean sweep. Each party in its turn fails the smell test, and this time it's Labour. Conservatives are patient, but it's past time, and they're waiting in the wings. After all, MPs and ministers who play cutesy with taxpayers' money with their dishonest claims of entitlement have played out their usefulness.

Britain has 646 legislators, receiving annual salaries of roughly $116,000, with an entitlement to an additional $166,000 in various allowances. Comfortable enough remuneration for a public position but, it appears, not quite enough for ambitiously entitled parliamentarians who have taken to claiming tens of thousands for personal and often quite absurd expenses they have no legal entitlement to.

Inclusive of swimming pool maintenance, chandeliers and lightbulbs, garden manure, and double-dipping for living expenses. Tch, tch, whatever happened to moral rectitude?