From Fitzroy's Private Diary (Extract 43)
Recently, when discussing with Alice her newfound status as an Agent of the Crown, I mentioned that she would never be able to vote. Talk about opening a cage of tigers. It was several minutes before I could explain, that I too, was unable to vote. Our work requires us to be apolitical. I also expressed my opinion that women should have the vote, but also that a large percentage of the working male population did not yet have the vote either. I even went as far as to say this went beyond a group of privileged ladies wanting to challenge their husband’s superiority in everyday life.
Why do I do these things to myself?
It was some time before I managed to redirect the conversation towards the concept of democracy. I attempted to close this down with the flippant comment, ‘that it was good enough for the ancient Greeks, but an English gentleman needed something better.’
Of course, I had forgotten the Alice’s father had schooled her in some depth in the classics. The conversation continued and I yearned for a glass of my best brandy, with Jack lying contentedly at my feet (I have discovered that a sleeping dog is my ideal companion).
Alice approves of democracy. She likes the idea of the right people being voted into power to run our country. Of course, she also approves of the monarchy, and I took that as a given. However, she struggles, as others have before her, with the realisation that many of the politicians voted into power are absolute idiots. She contends that when women gain the vote, much more sensible choices will be made.
Sometimes I think she fails to understand the flaws that run through humanity, regardless of gender. My personal opinion, not that it counts, as I can’t vote, is that individuals allocate their vote due to fear, persuasion, loyalty or indifference. They very rarely vote according to their understanding of the issues at the time - because they don’t want to spend the time separating the truth from the misinformation. Instead, they want to hand over responsibility to someone else, who will keep things rolling along in the usual way. Not only is this an abdication of responsibility, but also an opportunity to blame someone else, should things ‘go wrong’. Political promises, in my experience, are rather like military plans, they rarely survive their initial engagement.
Those who stand for parliament are generally privileged, it is not a cheap enterprise, and have the support of a wide range of cronies. Said cronies are normally motivated as much by remuneratory rewards as much as ideology. In fact, ideology comes a long way down the list. Although I accept that ‘not changing the way things are’ is a strong motivator for many political lobbyists who know they are currently advantaged. Thus, an immediate mockery of the whole system of four-year elections is made. Why, I foolishly wondered aloud, would the female gender, even want to get involved in such a farcical show? (I may have used a term stronger than farcical here as I have given up watching my language with Alice. We work too closely together for me to spare the energy).
Alice’s take is based on the idea that those who want power should rarely receive it, and that those who do not seek it, but would be good at it, and good for the people, should be elected. This, as I told her, is a meritocracy not a democracy - the former word being invented, but never yet accurately used for its purpose. I added in a few Grecian tags, along with a few Latin ones, about Emperors to show I knew what I was talking about.
The wretched woman - by which, of course, I mean my dear friend and colleague - translated each of them perfectly, totally undermining my argument. I did the only thing I could think of and suggested it was time for some combat training. We engaged in some stick training for an hour, and it says much for the troublesome thoughts she awoke in my breast about the true nature of democracy, as opposed to its realisation today, that she managed to land several blows.
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