Up for a wiffle of politcs

So a Wiffle is nothing that we use in this corner of the woods! Around here nobody plays Wiffle ball, but we European are fond of other games. The Irish are a lot all of their own and some of my good friends originated in Ireland, but what puzzles me is that none of them live in the place of origin. So, the Irish voted on the Lisbon treaty and a NIET came out. After reading this article in The Economist I wonder what it is that the result of this referendum reflects. Was it just a vote on how good the campaign on either side was? Is this to be interpreted that politics has reduced to marketing?

Now, if that is so, and marketing being a close relative of propaganda, I do wonder what has gone wrong and if people unhappy with the present state of affairs in our governments have much to complain about. After all, if marketing of ideas is the fine art of selling anything with superficial and inane arguments appealing to the brain dead, then if you are unhappy by the fact that you get a lame government serving all purposes but that of the community and society, then think again.

Right here in good old federal Switzerland – not even a member of the EU – there is one very popular political party that overspends any other political party to impose their ill advised programs and ideology on a population that has not quite yet abandoned the exercise of thinking critically. There is hope, nonetheless the Swiss voters are often seduced by the oversimplification and appeal of the sugar coated polemics coloured with racism and discrimination in all their ugly variations including the nationalism one. We all know that a diet with too much sugar is not healthy.

My apologies go to fine art, there is no fine art in what is propaganda or marketing. Propaganda is nothing fine, nor is there art in deceiving and misleading the masses with inane argumentation. We used to call this lies, or in the case of political activity, it is called propaganda.

I hope I am wrong about something here.

The Politics of Colour

These days my political activity has been in the background, or rather, I have been exercising the art of the invisible. Politics is an art. One of the more startling discoveries that I have made is that the most action does happen behind the scenes and within the political household that “the party” is.

Recently I have had a few eye opening experiences that make me feel totally wet behind the ears. Yesterday I held my first speech of any significance in the Rathaus, and put in a good word for the motion from Barbara Streit-Stettler and Daniela Lutz-Beck that asks that the city make drinking water available at no cost to the fans and visitors of the EURO 08. That our city mayor – Alex Tschäppät, a socialist – would be against such a measure was a real surprise, but then he is known to not be much of a fan of water. What do I really know about socialists? Anyhow the motion got through unanimously, and that is indeed a rare occasion in that parliament. Ah! Free drinking water, how very refreshing!

Now, if you are following the political gossip in this country, you are aware of the fact that the “right wing” parties all have a bit of a problem and not very good press at the time. The CVP has seen one of its own having a drug problem of which we do not yet know the details, however I am told that this happens in the best of families. The SVP – the populists – are throwing a temper tantrum over the election of Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, and my own party – the FDP -does not know how to keep its internal household problems away from the pornographic greed of the press.

In view of all of this I decided to stick to what is important to me: bags and colours. One week ago I approached Reto Nause – the proud owner of an iPhone – and asked him what one had to do to get one of those orange bags that he carries around. Reto told me that he would give me one at the next session, and so it was that yesterday he gave not one, but two. See, I like that orange bag for the colour and the functionality. I also like the idea of doing political work across party lines and bringing in what is co-operation. There is absolutely nothing wrong – not in my book – with the fact that each party focus on a different aspect of what is important in our society. Oh rats! I am colour blind and on a good day totally politically uncorrected! Forgive me for having a mind of my own, if you can, and if you can’t…