Imagine a country run along truly democratic lines. In such a mythical land, what would be the role of the politician, and the nature of his or her relationship with that amorphous group paraded under the banner: ‘the people’?
We in pseudo-democratic countries hear a lot about politicians serving and honouring the ‘will of the people’ – in Britain this nauseating slogan of appeasement has been repeated ad infinitum since the disastrous European referendum vote – but from where does the supposed conviction of the masses arise? Does it evolve from independent minds tussling with questions of justice and freedom, debating and discussing pertinent issues over tea and cake, or is it the politicians who construct this perceived will; manipulating the people they claim to serve into believing what they, the politicians, want them to believe. And whilst on occasions there may be some degree of uncertainty in the success of the Project of Persuasion – ‘the people’ can sometimes be an annoyingly unpredictable bunch – every avenue of propaganda and control is employed to ensure that the ideological intentions of the political class are reflected in the will of the people as and when they place their sacred X, and exercise their long-fought-for democratic right, which (particularly in first past the post systems) carries little authority and even less autonomy.
The principle tool of inducement is, of course, the mainstream media: Television and radio…