Constitutional
Monarchy
The
British government is classified as a Constitutional
Monarchy Government this
means that although we have an elected prime minister our head of
state is actually a monarch however in the UK this has been largely
ceremonial since the passing of the Bill of rights passed in 1689.
Although the head of state has to write off on laws and the opening
and closing of Parliament the monarchs ability to rule is very
limited within the United Kingdom.
The
other part of the title Constitutional
is also quite fictitious as the ruling class otherwise known as
politicians are able to change and amend the bill of rights as it
suites them and the constitution is based across various documents
and laws so in reality we do not have a strong solid legal precedent
which actually defends the right of the individual.
Old
as the Union
British
law is quite literally as old the Union itself and many countries
around the world including the mighty American Empire can trace its
legal lineage back to the small island of England and this is
something every British citizen can be proud of but all this history
has a side effect.
The
problem is now the system is so old and archaic and so entwined with
business that it seems to have forgotten the little people and the
gulf between individuals and courts have become so wide that many
people within the United Kingdom do not actually know their rights
which were set down by better politicians than we have today. Edmund
Burke once said that Britain is likened to an “Organic Society”
where things change slowly by evolution rather than revolution and I
have to say I agree with this statement.
I
think that being an organic society has allowed the United Kingdom to
stay at the forefront of many other nations by showing restraint
where others have powered ahead sometimes to devastating effect just
as we saw in the French Revolution of the 1700s, This restraint
however has been pushed to the extreme and has become antiquated and
in cumbersome, its time to let go.
Rights
of the Individual
In
the western world we pride ourselves on our freedoms such as the
freedom to live without fear of oppression but interestingly all of
our freedoms are of society and can sometimes side step the rights of
the individual. In law the person is defined as:
- a human being. 2) a corporation treated as having the rights and obligations of a person. Counties and cities can be treated as a person in the same manner as a corporation. However, corporations, counties and cities cannot have the emotions of humans such as malice, and therefore are not liable for punitive damages unless there is a statute authorizing the award of punitive damages. http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1516
But
nowhere is it said that a person is an individual and therefore they
must only look at the rights of people or persons based as a whole
society I think this to be the wrong way of looking at things as it
becomes very easy to pass laws which may be of detriment to an
individual but seem on the surface to benefit society. Under British
law it appears to me that as a Human Being you have rights and as a
person you have rights but as an individual you do not have rights.
The
importance of defining the Human being as an Individual to me is the
Key to ensuring that corporations do not continue to move into the
realm where they become one of us, this is important because certain
rules such as land ownership and privacy rights and that should be
unique to the individual citizen.
Why
change the Bill Of Rights
In
my personal opinion I think we do not need a constitution but we do
need an up to date and modern Bill of Rights that is governed by the
people in the form of any amendments to be made must have the backing
of the electorate by a vote of 70% or more for any change to be made.
The
issue I have with our current bill of rights is that people who wrote
it did not see the rise of mega corporations or the single minded way
in which they strive for control of the individual and they couldn't
even comprehend the way in which we use information and they way it
is thrown around the internet so carelessly.
Right
To Representation
You
reading this currently do not have a set of rights tailored to you or
to the needs of your family and unlike the large corporations who
share the rights you currently do have, you don't have the
understanding influence or money to lobby for changes that can affect
your life. I find it very worrying that a non human entity has the
above mentioned things to get the law changed to favour the
corporation that could have a devastating effect on the way in which
we live.
In
law we have the right to fair legal representation so why is this not
applied when it comes to how the law looks at us, simply because the
legal system panders to the person with the most money. Is it fair
that when a person (corporation) finds a law that stops it doing
something it can lobby to have that amended in order to circumvent
it? Is that fair representation.
By
defining you and me as individuals we can write a Bill of rights that
will truly champion people and not persons it will stop this massive
invasion of our privacy and our rights to live in a society that is
truly free.
Conflicts
of interest
The
vast majority of politicians active in politics today have either
come from business or are guaranteed a position in business companies
in highly valued positions when they leave office, many will argue
that they get the jobs based on previous experience and contacts
built up while working in government, But at what point does contact
building become a conflict of interest I would like to see it put
that if a politician is for example the minister for energy then they
are not permitted to work that industry.
Even
though the evidence is clear that Government and Business are
bedfellows we will never be able to prove that key positions are held
open for votes, but as the Cash for Honours Scandal in 2007 showed we
do need to be vigilant and we do need a cast iron legal document to
protect us from such abuses.
Bill
of Rights 2012
If
we do have a bill of rights we need to ensure it contains clauses
clearly defined for the individual and not the corporation persons
with no ambiguity.
- The bill must be clear and definitive.
- it must not allow corporations to abuse/harass individuals including families.
- all amendments must be publicly voted on by the electorate to keep stability
- it must include a mechanism that allows the individual that effects the state as a whole such as decelerations of war to avoid abuses such as Tony Blair forcing people into unlawful conflicts.
- Have a clause which protects the individuals assets from seizure by the state.
- A maximum cap on taxation to stop the government and corporations from returning us to feudelist state where people are taxed into poverty.
The
above are in my opinion the bare minimum of what should be enforced
to protect not just me and you but also the future generations of
this country. The quicker we get a bill of rights enforced the less
damage that I think will be done to society.
The
electorate are disheartened with democracy because the will of the
people is no longer enforced and this has been proven in the low turn
out at the last few general elections. The reason people vote in
droves for things like the X-factor is because they can see that
their vote has a direct impact on the show in politics this is sadly
no longer the case.
The
United Kingdom may no longer be the power it once was but we can
still show the world why we are the oldest continuous democracy in
the history of the world it is time for us evolve once more enact a
bill of rights for the rights of the people let us be the world
leader again showing why Great Britain is still Great
No comments:
Post a Comment