MPs' Allowance Scandal

In Defence of Pigs.

With so many variations of ‘pigs at the trough’ metaphors being bandied about over the Members of Parliament allowances scandal, I am reminded of a quote from no other than Winston Churchill, who knew a thing or two about human and animal nature.

Churchill said, “I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

George Orwell too, I think, had a sneaking regard for the ability of the common farmyard swine.

I also like pigs. For my money, a pig is a very useful animal, while he himself is not a fussy eater, he provides us humans with a wonderful complement to eggs at breakfast, he devours tons of unwanted waste vegetable matter, and he tastes very well with cabbage and potatoes. If the common domestic pig has a shortcoming, it is his reputation for wallowing in a certain substance which begins in s and ends in t.

Do you see where I am going here?

If only a certain breed of political animal, currently penned in the Houses of Parliament, were as useful as our chubby farmyard friend, we might all be living off the hog a little better. Instead, these political animals have developed an appetite for high living at the expense of others which pales in comparison to the reputation for gluttony of our useful farmyard friends. They have consumed tens of thousands of pounds that could have gone to deserving citizens more in need of taxpayer support.

If one was to conduct a straw poll, no pun intended, to determine between a pig and one of our current breed of political animals, as to which one makes the more useful contribution to the regular Joe’s needs and requirements every morning, in the current climate, my money is on the pig.

Unfortunately, the British voter has no recourse to the tactic of a recall election. In the United States, outraged voters have on many occasions taken recourse against corrupt elected officials, at federal, state, and municipal level, by organising petitions and fresh elections to have such officials thrown out of office. In recent times, Governor Schwartzenegger of California is perhaps the best know of those who have been elected as a result of a recall election. Citizens of California, suffering power outages and outraged by the rape of their power resources by the gangsters of Enron, recalled Democratic Governor Gray Davis, who was perceived to be unable, or reluctant, to take Enron on and elected Republican Schwartzenegger.

Citizens groups in Britain and Ireland would do well to examine the concept of recall elections. In the current political climate, there is no doubt that should such legislation exist, many of those Members of Parliament who have been less than forthright or honest with claims for legitimate operating expenses, would be going like ‘pigs to the slaughter’, (Sorry my farmyard friends) in a frenzy of recall elections.

The confidence of citizens in their elected representatives is at the heart of any democracy, whether it be a constitutional monarchy, or a republican form of government. In both parts of these Islands, under both forms of government, confidence has been badly eroded.

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."
George Bernard Shaw.