From the Revd Paul Nicolson
Sir, - The Church Times seems to have
shunned reporting Russell Brand's recent outburst, which resembled
the curate's egg.
Mr Brand is right, however, to imply that the current
political battle is between those who regard solidarity as the
guiding social and economic principle and those who promote the
betterment and survival of the fittest in the unregulated free
market. He writes in the New Statesman: "By spiritual I mean the
acknowledgement that our connection to one another and the planet
must be prioritised."
He wants a revolution, and urges people not to vote;
but if the solidarity camp do not want the further corruption of
social justice in 2015, then we have to make sure that those in
power will model the market economy to serve everyone. Not voting
is not an option for us.
Parliament has made catastrophic mistakes over the
past 30 years, allowing the free marketeers to dismantle a social
and economic system that promoted, supported, and expressed
solidarity; but very few politicians are the "frauds and liars"
that Mr Brand calls them. In "The lumbering monotheistic faiths
have given us millennia of grief for a handful of prayers and some
sparky rituals," he expresses some of my own frustration about the
Churches; but express frustration is what he does throughout - with
current politics; and much of his frustration is justified.
He is wrong about the 2011 riots: "These young people
have been accidentally marketed to their whole lives without the
economic means to to participate in the carnival." It was no
accident; J. K. Galbraith saw it coming inThe Culture of
Contentmentin 1992: "The controlling role of taxation continues.
The only effective design for diminishing the income inequality
inherent in capitalism is the progressive income tax. Nothing in
the age of contentment has contributed so strongly to income
inequality as the reduction of taxes on the rich; nothing, as has
been said, so contributes to social tranquillity as some screams
of anguish from the very affluent. That taxes should now be used to
reduce the inequality is, however, clearly outside the realm of
comfortable thought. Here the collision between wise social action
and the culture of contentment is most apparent."
Galbraith suggested that the contented voters worried
about current conditions and their own immediate welfare, but
failed to consider future consequences of current policies. This
short-sightedness was likely to lead to one or more social
problems.
Prevailing political wisdom encourages the value of
homes to increase as a vote-catching policy that increases the
wealth and contentment of the home-owner and vendor, but does
nothing for the renter. Political parties believe they will not be
elected if they decrease the value of homes or introduce higher
progressive taxation.
What is needed from the Churches is many strong Oscar
Romero-like voices against the policies and structural injustice
that create debts, hunger, cold, and unaffordable homes for the
poorest citizens, who call for the rejection in the ballot box of
the current Government in 2015. "I tell you, if these become
silent, the stones will cry out!" (Luke 19.40).
PAUL NICOLSON
Taxpayers Against Poverty
93 Campbell Road
London N17 0BF