Why focus only on Local Government? Don’t we need change at the top?
Contrary to popular cultivated opinion, it’s local government, (a.k.a the 22 Local Authorities in Wales), which holds the greatest power that affect people’s daily lives. Nefarious agendas my be rolled out from the UN, EU, UK, or even the Welsh Senedd – but it’s local governments that adopt them and roll them out – or not.
Whether it’s ridiculous 20 mph zones, the new education curriculum sexualising little children in schools, the promotion of the transgender agenda, “eat zee bugs” Net Zero plans, etc. – all these dark programmes may be designed up above – but it requires a willing and complicit local authority to force much of it on us.
Local authority misrule can only continue while they are dominated by political parties who are answerable not to us, the voting public, but to their bosses and funders. The antidote is to remove political parties from their controlling positions in our local authorities and replace it with genuine local representatives answerable to their constituents only.
Also, contrary to popular cultivated opinion, this much needed change in local governance is much easier to accomplish than most people think.
Why are local elections so easy to win for independent candidates (given the right strategy and campaign)?
There are a number of reasons why an independent candidate can enjoy an almost unfair advantage over their political party rivals. I list a few below:
1. Unlike ‘big’ elections like the UK or Senedd elections, there is scant media coverage of local elections, no big televised debates, endless media coverage of personalities and manifesto pledges, and so on. It largely takes place under the radar of mainstream media manipulation. This fact gives independents a huge advantage. From a mainstream media perspective, independent candidates are at the very least on a level playing field.
2. Unlike big elections with big constituencies, local government seats represent ‘wards’, a relatively small area with an average 4,000 residents, or say 1,500 to 2,000 homes. This enables just one person to leaflet and chat with the majority of electors in one’s ward in a day or two. It also keeps costs in money and time very low. You don’t need a big budget or a big team. One individual can capture a seat with minimal effort and cost.
3. Whether one identified as a Labour working class socialist, a Plaid Cymru national socialist, or a Tory conservative, the fact that things are going down the same dystopian road no matter which party is in power is getting people to think twice about party political affiliation. The fact is that the entire political process dominated by political parties is falling into disrepute. This is an Ace card up our sleeves.
4. Party political campaign leaflets are by and large uninspiring, if not abysmal, across the board. It’s no wonder that voter turnout continues to plummet. Given the nature of political parties, they are unable to deliver messages to motivate voters. This is a burden that independent candidates do not carry.
5. The campaign offered here gives voters a choice – either a genuine grassroots representative, or a member of a political machine. When given the choice between an accountable and accessible independent, and any number of unaccountable political party candidates, the choice is clear giving the independent a huge advantage over all other candidates. Votes for political party candidates are diluted while votes for an genuine independent becomes concentrated.
I don’t know anything about being a councillor or how local government operates. Should I still run for a seat?
Newly elected councillors are not expected to know the machinery of local government which is why instruction is initially offered by the bureaucracy after election. It’s really not that complicated and you will get better at getting the bureaucracy to respond to your community’s concerns over time.
How would a local government operate if it was majority independent councillors with no leader?
Currently most councils are run by the leader of the majority political party and his/her cabinet. This is a modern undemocratic concentration of power by political parties and in part explains why our local governments are so badly run.
We need to return to the older committee style of governance, where each committee has a balanced representation reflecting the balance in the overall council. In a council where independents hold the majority of seats, each committee would be weighted in favour of independent representatives.
This would ensure that party political agendas that do not serve the people cannot be imposed.