Buff Hoon strikes again

Geoff "Buff" Hoon shows why his nickname is so well deserved. He wants to make it compulsory to turn out to vote. This, he says, is:

The most obvious way to bring those who feel alienated into the political process. The best means to enhance civic participation. To bring back the sense that we can all work together. To show that there is such a thing as society.

How, for crying out loud, do you show that there is such a thing as society by threatening otherwise law-abiding people with fines and imprisonment?
The tragedy here is that Hoon almost - almost -gets the point:

What I witnessed during the campaign among some sections of our society was not apathy...No, it was - what seems today to be an old fashioned word - alienation.

This is good. Also good is his recognition that this alienation is not confined to the underclass; 30 per cent of the AB social class did not vote.
What's utterly  stupid, however, is Hoon's obstinate refusal to see the source of this alienation. He says:

We need to challenge the stereotypes about politicians in this country. It is easy to denigrate those who are elected to serve the public. To run them down.  To question their probity. To doubt their motives. In my experience, the vast majority of those who are elected to public office, whatever their political views, do so for the very best of reasons....Being a Member of Parliament is important, it is a privilege but equally it deserves respect. I have, for example, been particularly impressed by the calibre and talent of the intake of new MPs on all sides. They are already making a huge contribution to proceedings in Parliament.

He just doesn't get it, does he? He doesn't see that we are alienated from politicians because they are a separate class who pursue a political career almost from birth. Because they have too much faith in state power and rationalism and too little in freedom. Because they are ignorant of economics and philosophy alike. Because nine-tenths of them are obsequious toadies and the other tenth are raving egomaniacs. 
Hoon's solution to the problem of alienation - I'd call it contempt - isn't to question the stupidity and insularity of the political class. It's just to use the jackboot and the pseudo-technocratic fix.
And he wonders why we hold politicians in contempt.

Comments

[Angry Economist]

And its not just the politicians but their parties. If someone did want to get involved in politics they have to go through the party apparatus. I have often toyed with the idea of joining the labour party (but never bothered), for fear the boredom of meetings discussing the class struggle and having to applaud dull speeches with tons of managerialist, old fashioned working class vs. toffs conflicts, or otherwise bullsh*t.

The complete joke of university politics and the crap they spouted in the few meetings I attended put me off. I'd rather take pot shots at everyone from the sidelines and work within the public sector to undermine their bad ideas and promote some of their good ones.

And then going to a Conservative Party meeting - having to be nice to right wing grannies. No thanks. Even if there's a nice bit of cake there, no I don't think so. Plus being under the age of 40, I fear that they would bar me from existing their party buildings, as statistically I could drag down average member's ages by a couple of years....

I rant on. But the parties as well as the politicians turn me right off.

[rjw]

hence the surge in single issue activism ?