The problem with electing Jeremy as Labour leader is that we would be giving him as a hostage to the press plutocrats, Lord Rothermere, the Barclay bros and Rupert the magic millionaire. The result would be that however sincere and honest he is (which is more than enough for a leader) his every word and thought would be held against him, he'd be lampooned for his dress and there'd be constant efforts to associate him with every available nasty foreigner from Bin Laden (with whom he'd be communicating via medium) to Putin .
Any Labour leader is going to be done over by the press but Jeremy is more exposed to such a battering than most and the problem with mass democracy is that honesty and integrity don't shine through . So what the party needs is a leader who's less exposed to all this, can stand on the middle ground and be tough and intellectually strong enough to see the need for the kind of programme Jeremy is advocating.
Jeremyism without Jeremy would be a recognition that so much of what he's advocating is the kind of thing Labour needs to do which would be popular with Labour's rank and file and yet well supported by the wider public.
Take the re-nationalisation of the railways as contracts fall in. Or take a big programme of public housing for those who can't afford to buy, tough rent controls on the private sector or a boost to spending on the NHS to clear the deficits.All necessary. All popular. Add in the breaking up and tougher of the banks to stop speculation, a National Investment Bank and a programme to control the big bullies in the privatised utilities,incentives to hold shares for longer rather than speculative bursts and penalties for the lavish share option deals and the payout of excessive dividends at the expense of investment.
All that will mobilise national pride and protect the small against the monopolies. Being friendly to business does not mean condoning its every fraud,cheat,fiddle and weakness or not mobilising the people against the plutocrats.This should be the position of the Labour Party not the kind of servile deference to our failing business leadership we've shown so far.
We got hold of the wrong end of the stick when we started blaming ourselves for being anti-business. We should be anti-nasty deceitful overcharging tax fiddling and bullying business. Help the struggling small businesses by any means but be aware that the people are as hostile to the bullying blunders of the big batalions.They want something done about it not to watch is leaders being overpaid,its taxes underpaid and its customers fiddled and bullied..The big state is the only protector they've got and they get fed up when it doesn't help them.
The essence of Jeremy's programme is to return power to the people rather than pandering to plutocrats who they know are both greedy and well equipped to look after themselves .The sooner the other leadership candidates and our leading party figures get to recognising this rather than abusing Jeremy Corbyn the better..He's getting strong support and represents a discontent which Labour must serve and incorporate in its programme Who's going to speak for the people if Jeremy is ridiculed and rejected in this way?.
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