Politics is changing!

A couple of people have asked me about my blogging regularity. Getting a new job has taken up a lot of time and I also graduated (no biggie).

But as I write this now on the 19:37 from Victoria after a long deadline day at work two recent stories come to mind. Both of which are stories that affect us all; the US election and the EU referendum.

Where do I begin? A crazy year has nearly passed us by and so much has happened with still a month to go. I’m stalling. It’s hard to pick… Ok let’s go for the US election!

There are many words I could say to describe the outcome. Interesting, surprising, terrifying! But when I woke up this morning to check on how big Hilary’s victory was I was not shocked, I was not saddened, I was happy.

The one answer everyone gave when asked Clinton or Trump was “is that the best they could do?” and I am very much in the same boat.

One is uninspiring the other is mad. One is interesting the other is unwatchable. One is calculated the other is determined.

I’ll leave it to you to decide which is which. But back to the result, I should clarify that I am not a racist. I don’t hate Muslims, I’m not annoyed by the colour of someone’s skin and I certainly don’t like wearing string vests. So why was I happy?

I was happy because the ‘common’ man had seemed to have spoken.

For years one factor has controlled politics in all countries; money. I obviously can’t talk very much for the US but in Britain we’ve had scandals where business owners could buy dinner with the PM, MPs could claim whatever they liked at the TAX payers expense and tycoons could control government legislation

The difference between the UK and the US is judgement. In the US it seems that if you want something you get it but in Britain we seem to take our time and give people a chance.

I put it as judgement you can describe it anyway you like the point is that Americans have balls. They saw trump and saw the idea behind the campaign focusing on the working class and listening to the concerns of the many instead of the requests of the few.

A self-funded candidate who, if he got into the white house, wouldn’t have to cater to the people that put him there.  It’s just a shame it was Trump and not someone more respectable.

But the democrats didn’t help either. I mean Hilary Clinton? Seriously? The woman who ran twice already but has a chance now the guy everyone loves is out?

Granted Hilary knows politics, she knows the game and she’s been there and done that. The problem is that people don’t want that anymore. Hilary seemed more inclined to listen to her wallet than the American people which I, personally, don’t find particularly endearing.

And yet the democrats were in a good position a few months ago. You had a charismatic candidate in Bernie Sanders who has a great relationship with the people and an even better grip on the unrest in communities.

Trump had that quality too and he knew how to get in office, say what you like about trump but like Farage, he was clever enough to use people’s fears to get his way.

That brings us nicely onto Brexit.

As most of you know, I voted out. It’s irrelevant as to why but I did vote and I still think it is the right thing to have done.

So it saddens me that Brexit will most likely take a long time if it happens at all. We knew what we were doing and the country voted, it should go though. Our economy has taken the hit (I know it will take worse if/when we do exit), businesses have made plans to leave, from where I sit, the damage is done.

But the referendum wasn’t binding. And this is where I come to the point of my little spouting session.

The trust has gone from politics.

When Mr. Cameron drew up the EU referendum it was either in or out and that was it. But we couldn’t even trust him to do that and now we are in some no man’s land where remoaners are celebrating but the PM is still bleating out the catchphrase ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

America is the same. For all of Trump’s TV gold moments there were Hilary in the shadows. To me she comes off as slimy and this FBI thing is too much to ignore.

The point I’m trying to make is that these two results, shocking and controversial as they may be, are examples of the people taking back control. Brexit was an opportunity for people to show how they feel and it exposed just how out of touch Westminster is with the general public.

As a result we have an unelected PM pushing through an illegal movement which a lot of people don’t want.

But what was the alternative? Blissful ignorance? No thanks.

At the end of the day these results will bring progress. Admittedly not straight away but I just hope that the politicians look at themselves and assess what the people want from a political party and a government.

But these results have also peaked the interest of the youth too which is one of only a handful of positives to come out of 2016. Despite every other funny guy pointing out everyone’s a politician nowadays, these results have sparked passionate responses and a realisation that politics affects their lives.

Something like this was bound to happen and you don’t have to be ashamed to say you wanted this change. Despite the repercussions.