The U.K. EU referendum is finally underway. When a chance to vote comes around, as it usually does in a democracy, there is always some interesting action. Unfortunately most of this action is negative scaremongering. There are usually two sides and both sides aim to scare the voters into not voting for the ‘other side’ by claiming the ‘other side’ will wreck the econonomy and cause suffering for all. The winner is usually the one who scares the most people to vote for them as they are obviously the safer option. I actually think it is good to vote, although I don’t really believe it makes that much difference to me who wins.
In an established democracy with a large public sector and massive corporations, do elections actually change things significantly? Public and private sector systems are entities which inherently try to sustain themselves. This benefits the people working for those organisations. Both organisations aim to win more resources and influence, which creates a continuous feedback loop which can only be sustained through exponential economic growth. In a similar way to politicians, their arguments for more resources are based on fear that if certain policies are not pursued the corporation will relocate to another country or the public service will no longer function. This is not anyone’s fault, we created these systems and we could create new systems which would behave differently. In a finite world we cannot have exponential growth. So, is it all hopeless? Are we all doomed?
The answer is a resounding negative, NO! I am positively confident we can change things, starting with things in our own lives which are close to us. We can create our own systems which are smaller and take positive action which will provide positive feedback in our own day to day lives. These systems can involve friends and family and business acquaintances which we enjoy interacting with every day. These things can be independent of the bigger systems which are out of control. We don’t need to wait for the next referendum or election to express how we feel with our fears. We can start now, today and express our feelings of love and focus our precious attention on doing things we love, and being with people we love. That is how our own positive actions can change the world. Why not start today?
