Either politicians are getting predictable or I’m turning into the swami of the blogosphere.

A few days ago, while exploding the myth that ID cards would tackle illegal immigration I wrote:

“Well, you do surprise me - what do we get tomorrow - another lecture from ‘Buff’ Hoon on the evils of public cynicism about Government?”

And what do I find in today’s Times but…

“Since becoming Leader of the Commons, Mr Hoon has spoken out against the cynicism with which many people regard politicians from all parties, as well as the need to treat those holding public office with more respect.

In the speech today he will state that it is not apathy nor sloth or contentment that is undermining participation in British elections but “alienation — the feeling among many people that their vote will not change anythingâ€?. He will say that this is particularly true among the poor and more disadvantaged groups. “

And Buff’s big plan for improving voter turnout?

Just the same old ‘you will do as you are told, its for your own good’ bullshit that’s already getting really, and I mean seriously, tired in the scant couple of months since the last election - only this time its voting that gets the Dalek treatment of ‘You Will Obey’.

Yep, Buff’s still worried about public cynicism towards politicians and will, if the Times in correct, today claim that the spread of deliberate non-voting threatens “the long term legitimacy of our political systemâ€?.”

Note that we’re talking about deliberate non-voting here, not voter apathy, which was the excuse for the fall in turn out in 2001, so at least one penny has dropped - that a significant portion of the electorate are exercising their right to tell the political elite that they don’t trust any of them to run the country in the only way possible in our electoral system. By not turning up to vote at all - there being no ‘none of you bastards’ option on the ballot paper. All of which means that, if Buff gets his way the largest share of the vote in future elections is likely to go jointly to the ‘Spoiled Ballot Paper’ and ‘Turned Up and Still Didn’t Vote” Parties.

You see Buff’s trouble is that he just doesn’t get it. I know he’s hardly renowned for being the brightest star in the Government’s firmament but when he tries to suggest that…

…the clamour for proportional representation since the general election may be misguided because there is evidence showing that turnout fell further in European elections after this reform was introduced, possibly because of the loss of direct constituency representation.

Then you know that he’s not merely lost the plot but he never had sight of it to begin with.

The apparent failure of PR to reinvigorate voting in European elections has nothing to do the loss of direct constituency representation. Even when MEP’s were elected under the first past the post system, most people were hard pressed to name their MEP let alone hold any solid ideas as to what they actually do or how they might be relevant to their daily lives. That’s the real problem with European elections, its not that they’re carried out using PR but that the majority of people fail to see the relevance of the European Parliament in the first place.

It’s comments like this, on PR, and this one…

But Mr Hoon is also expected to say that the way in which political parties are becoming increasingly sophisticated in pursuing those who do vote means that those people staying at home could become further marginalised from the process.

“This will alter our democratic debate, risking encouraging a greater focus on issues of concern to the chattering classes and neglecting issues of wider and more general concern. It is profoundly dangerous for our political life.�

…which, more than anything, demonstrates why people are choosing not to vote.

What, when he disparages the so-called ‘chattering classes’ is he doing other than demonstrating an utter disdain and contempt for those of us outside the political elite who actually take an interest in politics. He patronises us, insults our intelligence and then has the nerve to complain that we fail to regard him and his ilk with the respect they believe themselves to deserve by right.

It is, of course, not good for democracy that so many people should become alienated from the political process to the extent that they disregard it and their democratic right to vote in its entirety, that they should feel that no matter what they do or who they vote for it won’t make a difference - but then what do politicians like Geoff Hoon expect when they roundly disparage those of us who do take an interest for having the sheer never to want not only to debate the issues but for not taking the Government’s word as ‘gospel’.

While politicians take that kind of attitude towards informed opinion then compelling people to attend poling stations, even if they then decline to vote or are given the measn to abstain, is not going to be the answer. All it will succeed in doing is making those who choose not to engage feel even more alienated as a result of their having been forced to go somewhere they simply don’t want to go on under threat of yet another, no doubt, on the spot fine.

In fact the most revealing thing in Buff’s comments is this comparison he draws between the issues of the ‘chattering classes’ and the issues of wider and more general concern that non-voters are supposed to represent.

What are these issues of wider and more general concern? And if they are things that should concern us all - being wider and more general than other concerns - then why aren’t they getting picked up on by the so-called ‘chattering classes’?

Why do I get the feeling that Buff’s real concern here is not about a lack of political engagement and voter alienation but how to find a way to funnel enough complient ’sheep’ into polling booths every four or five years to shore up the fiction that Governments have an absolute and inalienable mandate to govern.

Compulsory voting, far from being the most effective way to “generate more political participation across all strands in society” seems more a desperate attempt to shore up the credibility of a political system which is starting fail not because of public cynicism but the political elite of ‘Westminster Village’, safe behind their barriers and with their new exclusion zone in place, are becoming more and more remote just as some people are starting take a much closer personal interest in the things they purport to do in our name. It’s not a cynical public that politicians are concerned about so much as a sceptical public - and more to the point a sceptical public which now, via the internet, has the means the make itself heard by a mass audience.

You might almost feel sorry for them were it not quite so amusing. The unerring pursuit of populism through polticial spin. The time, effort and political capital spent trying to get the press, and especially the Murdoch press, onside and playing ball with the New Labour programme. The focus group studies. All the research and consultation exercises…

…and all for nothing. For a 61% turnout at a General Election, the lowest share of the vote for a winning party since the beginnings of the modern electoral system in the 1830’s and now, worst of all, the ‘chattering classes’ have the means to do more than just rant helplessly via the letters page of the Times. They can talk to each other, en masse. They can share and exchange ideas at will. They can debate the issues, any issues, when they like, how they like and as often as they like.

It’s not even the case that the classic Whitehall tactic of labelling dissenters as ‘conspiracy theorists’ and muttering darkly about them ‘having their own agenda’ is effective anymore. Not only is it a given that each and every blogger has their own agenda but few, if any, make any secret of what their agenda might be and where, politically, they’re coming from. Add to that the diversity of opinion to be found in the blogosphere - which makes it nigh on impossible for politicians to claim that we’ve all got it wrong - and the fact that becuase there’s no shortage of opinions out here there’s also no shortage of peer review either and suddenly you have a political arena that’s imbued with a degree of authenticity that most of our latter day Parliamentarians can barely envisage.

All of which is why when Charlie Falconer claimed that he doesn’t think “there is a real groundswell for [electoral] change”, the response he got was ‘bollocks, we’re going to debate it anyway’.

Political engagement is about far more than simply heading off to the polling booth once every four or five years. Its about participating in the debate, discussing the issues and, hopefully, arriving at an informed opinion somewhere along the line about what you believe to be your own, and Britain’s best interests. It is far more than than the simple act of sticking a cross on a ballot paper…

…yet if Buff’s comments are indicative of the opinion of our political elite then that’s pretty much all they give a shit about and if the keep taking that attitude then it’s going to be a long, long time before any political party manages to overhaul ‘none of the above’ on polling day.

Update 5/7/05 - Stumbling and Mumbling on the same wavelength…