Be that person - part one.

Well, well well.  What a week.  Everything has been on view this week hasn't it and mostly that By-Election that quite frankly finished with comedy.  The result was a comedy in that the comments from the parties justifying their respective finishing positions were frankly farcical. That's where the comedy ended.  The real story of what it really says of our democracy, our politics and our politicians has been more ably commented on at other places and it is a sad one, in the history of a once great nation.

Whilst the mainstream media prattle on about what it means for the parties in their commentary, the blogs are setting the pace with questions about what we do about it.  It's a very fair question given what we've seen this week in Italy with the emergence of the 5 Star movement.  The first I saw on what's next for Britain came in Witterings from Witney.  Clearly that post had prompted some comments about Harrogate and so did Richard North's posts on the subject.  Rather interestingly there was a theme emerging about what do people do not intimately involved in Harrogate - good question.

The heart of the Italy situation is that it is a movement.  A rejection of the circus comprising modern politician ill equipped to lead their respective nations away from the problems they face.  It didn't succeed just because of the idea.  It succeeded because the people did something about it.  It is an action based movement i.e. people stop bleating and lift their backsides off their seats and push the movement forward.  They're not waiting for someone to do it for them, they carried their bit and so did everyone else.  That's important stuff and critical to any movement.  Movements die when people simply sit around and expect the idea to propel itself.  I don't know where 5 Star is going long term, because it's going to have to get serious about solving Italy's problems at some point otherwise it too will lose the goodwill of the people and will wither.

This takes me back to this post, which I have previously commented on and namely two particular sections that I think ring true:

What is needed is a new settlement.  What is needed is a constructive blueprint for the future that empowers people and makes them want to support it for positive reasons.  What is needed is something that is borne from the grassroots and evolves and grows, rather than something imposed from on high.

and

The seed might have been sown. But it will only germinate and take root if people who care are prepared to help nurture it and play a part in tending it to maturity and strength.  The time for complaining is over.  The time for positive and constructive action is at hand.

The 5 Star movement is not Beppe Grillo.  The movement is its constituents, the ones that move it along.  They all start with one everyday person who has had enough who will take the first step.  There's one of those in every locality.  I know that, because they come here and they go to other blogs, some of which I get to read.  Every movement that grows always start with a collection of one single person in lots of areas across the country.

All I ask (and maybe many others do) is that you be that person that gets the ball rolling where you live.  I ask that you start to take it forward. I ask that you be the one that gets out of the chair and starts something.  Every movement starts with just one person, that no one ever heard of, starting to spread the message and helping it thrive. If you hope for a better Britain, I'm asking will you be the person that helps build it.

I'm not asking for anything illegal or subversive here. Far from. I'm asking for clean, open and honest engagement in democracy and a restoration of the culture with opportunity for all, honesty, integrity, decency and one that will catch those who fall (and I mean fall) and will protect its elderly in a dignified and decent way. I also want a Briatin whose institutions work for the good of the people they were built to serve and in the genuine best interests of the natiion. 

My beliefs are in a restored Britain, one which has been in the vision of great men and women from years gone by.  That Britain was fought and died for because people held that notion dear.  Many of those that held that vision dear lie in graves across the world, never to return to the nation they loved.  Some lie in marked graves in manicured cemeteries and some lie under ignominious  piles of soil and will be forever hidden and walked past by people with no idea of the sacrifice made just yards from their feet.

Britain has gone wrong in ways too numerous to list here and the work must start soon.  The size of the challenge means everyone has to grab a metaphorical shovel and start the clean up.  If we all stay sat on our chairs expecting someone else to do, I do not believe I can articulate the disaster we will face as a result.  If people start and spread the message, others will find them.  Movement attracts attention. From them, hope will grow. I'm not talking about the mirage of Hope that was peddled over in the US for electoral gain.  I'm talking about genuine hope.

So my question is - will you be that person that starts it moving where you are?