A Bird’s Eye View: When is enough enough?
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by Advena Avis
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 30, 2009 00:00
Human greed continues as we read about the scandal that broke out in the United Kingdom when members of parliament were accused of misusing taxpayers’ money.
According to the rules, members of parliament may recoup expenses that are made "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" in pursuit of their parliamentary duties. MP's were found to have used taxpayer's money to purchase toilet seats, clean swimming pools, moats and add fake Tudor beams to their houses. Other MP's purchased dog food, toilet brushes. Another one claimed a mortage that he had already paid.
Leaders of the three main parties apologized for the abuse of the expenses system. However,what we cannot understand is the stupidity of the MP's who cannot realize that by their actions they are undermining the last remnants of democracy in their country. Democracy has already been undermined in the U.K. by the Big Brother mentality prevailing in that country that has installed more cameras than there are humans to monitor their movements. But by misusing taxpayer money at a moment when the humans of the U.K. are asked to fasten their belts and are being laid off as a consequence of the global financial crisis, is like asking for voters not to vote for them. And if that happens and no one is voted into parliament then the U.K. will face a problem of democracy and democratic institutions. It also paves the way for the re-emregence of fascist parties that would like to see the imposition of a one-party state. The arguments for potential fascist movements have been given free of charge by the MP's.
So it is not enough to apologize. It is not enough to return misused funds. It is not enough to fire ministers. Not even the resignation of all the MP's in parliament would be enough. What is immediately needed is for the MP's to change the legislation that they themselves created so that it would be impossible for them to misuse funds in the future. Only that measure may save what is left of democracy in the U.K.
And speaking about democracy, Greece, who invented it, is doing its utmost to protect it. Greece's data protection agency has prohibited vehicles manned by Google's Street View drivers from the country. The agency said the search engine would have to provide additional information and concrete guarantees that the service was not an invasion of personal privacy before expanding the program to Greece. "We are not going to allow our country to become a Big Brother Society," said an agency official. Greece has draconian rules concerning protection of private data and CCTV cameras are quite rare in comparison with the U.K. and other EU countries. So bravo to the Greeks and may others follow their example.
Ponder our thoughts dear humans for your benefit.
Leaders of the three main parties apologized for the abuse of the expenses system. However,what we cannot understand is the stupidity of the MP's who cannot realize that by their actions they are undermining the last remnants of democracy in their country. Democracy has already been undermined in the U.K. by the Big Brother mentality prevailing in that country that has installed more cameras than there are humans to monitor their movements. But by misusing taxpayer money at a moment when the humans of the U.K. are asked to fasten their belts and are being laid off as a consequence of the global financial crisis, is like asking for voters not to vote for them. And if that happens and no one is voted into parliament then the U.K. will face a problem of democracy and democratic institutions. It also paves the way for the re-emregence of fascist parties that would like to see the imposition of a one-party state. The arguments for potential fascist movements have been given free of charge by the MP's.
So it is not enough to apologize. It is not enough to return misused funds. It is not enough to fire ministers. Not even the resignation of all the MP's in parliament would be enough. What is immediately needed is for the MP's to change the legislation that they themselves created so that it would be impossible for them to misuse funds in the future. Only that measure may save what is left of democracy in the U.K.
And speaking about democracy, Greece, who invented it, is doing its utmost to protect it. Greece's data protection agency has prohibited vehicles manned by Google's Street View drivers from the country. The agency said the search engine would have to provide additional information and concrete guarantees that the service was not an invasion of personal privacy before expanding the program to Greece. "We are not going to allow our country to become a Big Brother Society," said an agency official. Greece has draconian rules concerning protection of private data and CCTV cameras are quite rare in comparison with the U.K. and other EU countries. So bravo to the Greeks and may others follow their example.
Ponder our thoughts dear humans for your benefit.