Is this the end?

I'll be honest. I fear the worst is going to happen. I don't believe the pundits who say this is the most unpredictable election ever. I think Johnson will win a majority. He could even win big. There is only the smallest of chances that this excruciating outcome will be avoided. The sudden intervention of unknowable factors is always possible. "Events" as they called. I doubt whether this forecast, for example, is an outlier. It's proof of where we are.

For my own sanity I have begun to accept the result early. Play it through my mind so I am ready. But this has left me feeling depressed. I keep asking myself the same question. How did we get here? After nine years of shocking mismanagement why are we about to reward the culprits with five more years in power?

I think the reasons are even more depressing than the actuality of losing. They go beyond the obvious failings of Labour and the opposition parties. They point to something far deeper and more troubling.

Politics itself is failing. Public trust in politicians and the institutions of democracy is at a very low ebb. Lies are now an accepted part of the sham. It has come to the point where politicians are expected to lie. It has become their duty as party members. A brief journey into the Daily Mail comments sections demonstrated to me just how unperturbed certain voters have become. Lying for them is justified if it means their side wins. There is no great public outcry. If Johnson lies about building 40 hospitals the story lasts as long as it takes for him to lie about something else. Wholesale disengagement with the political process has ushered in this era of permissiveness.  

 

The contradictions continue to mount up. Tories, the party of tight fiscal control, promise to splurge billions. Tories, the party of law and order, unlawfully prorogue parliament. The electorate have become shell shocked. They are ready to fall back on their recent memories because nothing else makes sense. For a depressingly large number this means voting for who they voted for before, the Tories. Nine years of Tory rule has created a safe haven for these numbed out wanderers to go back to. Only full-scale disengagement can explain such regressive behaviour. The electorate has given up on politics.

 

Further analysis would reveal yet more depressing conclusions. We are probably reaching the limits of what economic expansion can provide. We expect a continual rise in living standards, which can only be paid for by economic growth. It should be obvious that economic growth, which depends on finite resources, is time-limited. When it tops out, there will be no more rises in the standard of living to keep the far-right activists at bay. What we are currently living through may have a trajectory we cannot see that is driving events towards further political breakdown and turmoil.

None of which has made me feel any less depressed!