You should be working for the 99%
Andrew Mitchell of Plebgate infamy has finally resigned, freeing Prime Minister Cameron to rebuild his party’s credibility with the great Pleb masses before they go to the polls in 2015. Two and a half years is an eternity in politics, but the Tories are kidding themselves if they think time alone will wipe the stain of Plebgate from the public consciousness—at least if I have anything to say about it.
As I argued in an earlier post, the precise wording of Mitchell’s rant was never the real issue. His tantrum at the gates of Downing Street was significant because it exposed the mind-set of a ruling party that sees itself as vastly superior to the people it governs—a party which has jealously guarded the privileges of the wealthy and well-connected—a party which has done everything in its power to ensure that the income gap between rich and poor in this country continues to widen.
Labour has grasped the golden PR opportunity of Plebgate to hammer home the message that the Tories believe in ‘one rule for those at the top, another for the rest of us at the bottom.’ I agree. But the hard working people of this country need more than catchphrases from the opposition. We need political warriors who will fight for our interests and close an income gap which has risen faster in Britain than anywhere else in the industrialized world.
Income inequality is not only a problem for those at the bottom. The chasm between rich and poor hurts all of us by slowing economic growth and nursing a slew of social ills from substance abuse and obesity to prostitution and domestic violence. If attitudes are anything to go by, many members of the ruling class believe these problems will never affect them directly. All I can say is you’d better wake up before you find yourself on the receiving end of a popular blowback that has every chance of turning bloody.
I don’t want to see the country I served for 23 years as a soldier and would still die for today tear itself apart. That’s why I’m writing this post –to reach out to people who are as frustrated as I am by the failure of our major political parties to close the income gap in Britain. We need to work together for change. I’m not proposing a new political party, but a grassroots movement advocating economic policies that benefit the majority of Brits, not the privileged few; a movement that will send a clear message that we will no longer tolerate a Government that sells out to the City of London and other powerful interests; a movement that will fight for a Progressive Liberal Economy for Britain —a PLEB Movement.
There are many worthy economic changes to fight for. I’ll kick things off by advocating for a cut in VAT—a tax which hits the poor the hardest and impedes economic growth. I will write to my MP (who happens to be a Conservative), and tell her that if her party does not cut VAT immediately, I will lobby everyone in her constituency to vote her out of office. A letter may seem like nothing, but multiply it by tens of millions and our government will be quaking in their boots.
As I said, cutting VAT is only the beginning. I invite everyone who reads this post to help shape the PLEB agenda by leaving a comment below. If you want to write a letter to your MP, you can find their address here.
Remember, we are the majority, not the elites. There is strength in our numbers that we have not begun to tap. We’re only powerless when we fail to act. So PLEBs Unite, and let’s take back our country.
