The Man in the White Suit - the new Parliamentary uniform?
Do we really want politicians to be public paragons of virtue?
A good deal of what I read tends to work on the assumption that we do. Take this, for example:
“As technology evolves, the same public information laws create novel and in some cases previously unimaginable levels of transparency. In many cases, particularly those related to the conduct of top public officials, this seems to be a clearly good thing. In others, particularly those related to people who are not public figures, it may be more of a mixed blessing or even an outright problem.
I’m reminded of the “candidates” of ancient Rome—the Latin word candidatus literally means “clothed in white robes,” which would-be officeholders wore to symbolize the purity and fitness for office they claimed to possess. By putting themselves up for public office, they invited their fellow citizens to hold them to higher standards.”
I mentioned this on another forum, and my friend, Chris, commented that the whiteness of the robes were also a status symbol. They said “look at me – I live in a nice part of town and I’ve got servants and slaves”
Either way, this worries me. There is something demagogic about displays of public virtue. It’s also something that comes at quite a high price. Jacqui Smith made herself look ridiculous claiming for a bathplug. If one of her politial rivals were, just for the sake of argument, the son of a Baronet with an estimated net worth of, say, £4m, I doubt if the temptation would be there in the first place.
Then there is the question of the lifestyle of those who represent us. The French used to give civil servants a uniform and an official residence – they were the outward symbol of the state. I don’t think that we have a mood in the UK at the moment that would like to see the lush symbolic personal circumstances for those who represent us.
Listening to some of the coverage of the MPs expenses debate, I’m not sure that many commentators would be prepared to pay for much more than a single bed in a dormitory.
Do we really want the kind of people who would thrive on transparency to be running the country? Or even local councils?
Filed under: Being a politician, Clerical representation, Transparency, What makes a good representative? | Tagged: The Man in the White Suit
