Manifesto: A New Ideology
Recently I've had a lot of thoughts about things I want politicians to say, but which they are not saying. It feels like right now we've got a choice between two ideologies - league tables and top-down micromanagement versus a religious faith in the power of the free market - both of which are stupid, false and dangerous. So I thought I'd compile all the things I want to hear into a sort of manifesto for a non-existent political party which I would actually want to vote for.
Here's what I came up with:
The decline of ideology in politics is a great loss. But the old ideologies - socialism and conservatism - are obsolete. We're going to figure out what works and do it. This is our new ideology.
When we say "what works" we don't just mean "what works to increase GDP," we mean what makes things better for people living in Britain and in the world as a whole. We will not forget that economic measures play an important role in this but we will also not forget that they do not represent the whole picture.
Where free markets work we will use free markets. Where regulation works we will use regulation -- but we will always strive to use the right kind of regulation. We will develop markets that serve not only their participants but also the people as a whole. We hold that this does not happen automatically - it is not an in-built feature of free markets in general - but neither is it impossible. Where markets cannot work we will use good management that integrates local knowledge in an effective way.
In order to know what works we must do the research, we must gather evidence and arguments that will allow us to truly understand in advance the effects that our actions will have on the complex system that is our country's (and our world's) economy. So one of our first acts will be to increase funding to universities, particularly for the study of economics and development. We will fund economists from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of approaches and points of view, because in the end we care about what can be shown scientifically to work and not about a particular ideological view of how economics should work. Making Britain's universities the world's leading institutions for the study of economics will give us the intellectual tools we need to make the right economic decisions.
We will explain our policies not with sound-bites but with full-blown economic explanations. We believe that the public are capable of understanding the true reasons for our decisions and we see no reason to insult their intelligence by "dumbing down."
We will solve social problems and unemployment not by "being tough" or "cracking down" except where it's truly necessary, but by introducing economic policies that will re-invigorate deprived areas.
We will not measure our public services with league tables, because that doesn't work. It's a failed experiment that has only led to people playing the system and a decline in the real value of our services. Neither will we measure our services only by the revenue they can generate, because that is not always the appropriate measure of their value - if such a measure were applied to the roads then there would be a toll to use every one. Instead we will simply hire good people to run our schools and hospitals. We will empower these people to use their detailed local knowledge to make decisions that are appropriate for the specific local situation. Above them we will hire good managers, who will have the freedom to communicate with the people below them, allowing them to allocate resources to each area in an appropriate way, and so on up to the national level. Good management, not ideology, is the key to good public services.
We understand that our economy is linked in a complex and inextricable way with the global environment. We are not afraid to make sacrifices today to ensure the world is healthy decades into the future, long after the next election. It goes without saying that our decisions on the environment will be informed by science and not by the wishes or beliefs of politicians or big business.
We understand that we have a responsibility to the world as well as our own country. We will not pursue policies that increase our own country's wealth at the expense of poorer nations, whether the cost be monetary or social. Instead we will steer a path that benefits everyone, encouraging global development in a form that empowers all the world's people rather than concentrating wealth in the hands of the few. The people of Britain can only benefit from making the world a better place for everyone.
We will work hard to stem the influence of big business on politics. We understand that the interests of business and the interests of the people coincide sometimes, but not always, and our duty will always be to the people.
We believe that big businesses should be held accountable for their actions. While we will not pursue policies that would cause multinationals to leave Britain, we will work hard to achieve a world where business serves the interests of the people as well as its own.
Every policy here is subject to revision in the light of new research. Our promise is to do at all times what is right for the people, and to listen to reality and not ideology in order to determine what is right. This promise we will not break.
We will listen to the electorate, but we understand that this conversation should not be one-sided. We will not listen exclusively to focus groups but will instead engage in a dialogue: people cannot be expected to make up their minds about policy without understanding the science behind it. For this reason, communication with the public is of paramount importance to our new ideology. Under our government you will no longer be drip-fed a dumbed down half-explanation of our economic policy but will instead receive the full, frank and honest explanation that you deserve. In this way you will be empowered to truly participate in our national democracy.
With this new ideology - the ideology of no ideology, of evidence, pragmatism, communication and honesty, we will create a new and better Britain, and a new and better World.
Would you vote for me?
And more importantly, if you could put words into politicians' mouths, what would you want them to say?
Here's what I came up with:
The decline of ideology in politics is a great loss. But the old ideologies - socialism and conservatism - are obsolete. We're going to figure out what works and do it. This is our new ideology.
When we say "what works" we don't just mean "what works to increase GDP," we mean what makes things better for people living in Britain and in the world as a whole. We will not forget that economic measures play an important role in this but we will also not forget that they do not represent the whole picture.
Where free markets work we will use free markets. Where regulation works we will use regulation -- but we will always strive to use the right kind of regulation. We will develop markets that serve not only their participants but also the people as a whole. We hold that this does not happen automatically - it is not an in-built feature of free markets in general - but neither is it impossible. Where markets cannot work we will use good management that integrates local knowledge in an effective way.
In order to know what works we must do the research, we must gather evidence and arguments that will allow us to truly understand in advance the effects that our actions will have on the complex system that is our country's (and our world's) economy. So one of our first acts will be to increase funding to universities, particularly for the study of economics and development. We will fund economists from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of approaches and points of view, because in the end we care about what can be shown scientifically to work and not about a particular ideological view of how economics should work. Making Britain's universities the world's leading institutions for the study of economics will give us the intellectual tools we need to make the right economic decisions.
We will explain our policies not with sound-bites but with full-blown economic explanations. We believe that the public are capable of understanding the true reasons for our decisions and we see no reason to insult their intelligence by "dumbing down."
We will solve social problems and unemployment not by "being tough" or "cracking down" except where it's truly necessary, but by introducing economic policies that will re-invigorate deprived areas.
We will not measure our public services with league tables, because that doesn't work. It's a failed experiment that has only led to people playing the system and a decline in the real value of our services. Neither will we measure our services only by the revenue they can generate, because that is not always the appropriate measure of their value - if such a measure were applied to the roads then there would be a toll to use every one. Instead we will simply hire good people to run our schools and hospitals. We will empower these people to use their detailed local knowledge to make decisions that are appropriate for the specific local situation. Above them we will hire good managers, who will have the freedom to communicate with the people below them, allowing them to allocate resources to each area in an appropriate way, and so on up to the national level. Good management, not ideology, is the key to good public services.
We understand that our economy is linked in a complex and inextricable way with the global environment. We are not afraid to make sacrifices today to ensure the world is healthy decades into the future, long after the next election. It goes without saying that our decisions on the environment will be informed by science and not by the wishes or beliefs of politicians or big business.
We understand that we have a responsibility to the world as well as our own country. We will not pursue policies that increase our own country's wealth at the expense of poorer nations, whether the cost be monetary or social. Instead we will steer a path that benefits everyone, encouraging global development in a form that empowers all the world's people rather than concentrating wealth in the hands of the few. The people of Britain can only benefit from making the world a better place for everyone.
We will work hard to stem the influence of big business on politics. We understand that the interests of business and the interests of the people coincide sometimes, but not always, and our duty will always be to the people.
We believe that big businesses should be held accountable for their actions. While we will not pursue policies that would cause multinationals to leave Britain, we will work hard to achieve a world where business serves the interests of the people as well as its own.
Every policy here is subject to revision in the light of new research. Our promise is to do at all times what is right for the people, and to listen to reality and not ideology in order to determine what is right. This promise we will not break.
We will listen to the electorate, but we understand that this conversation should not be one-sided. We will not listen exclusively to focus groups but will instead engage in a dialogue: people cannot be expected to make up their minds about policy without understanding the science behind it. For this reason, communication with the public is of paramount importance to our new ideology. Under our government you will no longer be drip-fed a dumbed down half-explanation of our economic policy but will instead receive the full, frank and honest explanation that you deserve. In this way you will be empowered to truly participate in our national democracy.
With this new ideology - the ideology of no ideology, of evidence, pragmatism, communication and honesty, we will create a new and better Britain, and a new and better World.
Would you vote for me?
And more importantly, if you could put words into politicians' mouths, what would you want them to say?