Pizza or Politics?

These days most things are convenient. When you want a pizza– all you need to do is pick up a phone. You want coffee? Push a button – coffee. Instant, convenient, effortless. Today, technology makes so many things easy. Politics, however, doesn’t work in quite the same way.

Democracy, voting, equality, representation – these have all taken centuries to evolve. In ancient Athens, only adult male landowners, who had qualified as citizens could vote. Very few had a direct say in the future of the state and society.

Yet here we are, over two thousand years later with universal suffrage. Everyone gets a vote. Everyone has that essential tool to shape their community. Voting is one of the few measures that can equalise the disparities of wealth and education. It may also be the most direct route for people to steer their society. Indeed, it allows us to affirm our commitment to and a role in creating a better society. Those rights took centuries to secure.

History rarely bends to the will of one person. If it does bend, it is often a question of timing – for the rest of us we have to be persistent. Politics as a shaping force is no different. You can’t just press a button to fix everything. Change and improvement require time, effort and vision. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling snake oil.

On the other hand, destruction can be initiated in an instant. Destruction need not be precise. If you want to hammer something to pieces, you just need to hit hard enough. No measurement, no timing, just smack ­– bang! Broken.

We just need to look around to see this philosophy in action. People like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pretend that a single vote can fix everything. An instant fix. It’s the pizza delivery of politics. They offer the hammer – break it and everything will be fine. No vision, nothing.

Not only do they fail to offer any real solution, they jeopardize everything we’ve accomplished for at least the last five decades. These people will leave us picking up the pieces and they won’t bat an eyelid.

This pizza delivery of political philosophy seems to be gaining popularity and many on the right particularly champion it. Next time you hear someone rattling off how simple something is; consider whether they’re a pizza delivery political philosopher. Are they promising an instant fix or over simplifying? This is salesmanship and the salesman has little regard for the quality of their product.

Not only does this behaviour hinder positive social change but it threatens what is already accomplished. This is a world where the ignorance of Trump and Farage dominates. We do not have to let that dominate us. I hope those of us here in Scotland can remember that we reap what we sow. Voting works but social progress doesn’t come instantly – and certainly not without vision and persistence.