When I started my first ever day's work in a local government office in true blue Eastbourne, I proudly declared to my colleagues that I was a Labour supporter (despite being too young to vote). This seemingly innocuous statement provoked a funny range of responses from a dismissive 'pah' from some, to a derisive 'bloody commie eh?' from my ex-army supervisor and his little sidekick.
Whilst I suppose I pretty much expected their response, after all, almost everyone voted Tory in Eastbourne "even the Seagulls". What I didn't expect was the relatively cool 'older' bloke (all of 27 years old, I suspect) to lean into the conversation with this observation...
" Of course. If you aren't a socialist by the time you are 20 - you haven't got a heart. If you aren't a conservative by the time you are 40 - you haven't got a brain..."
A pithy observation maybe but something that stuck with me nonetheless. It struck me then that it was such a lazy and cynical view of the world - genuinely heartbreaking. It assumed a pre-ordained path and almost instinctively gave one permission to just give up on politics, to give up on life... Perhaps in a time when news was more uniform and access to more radical thought came via University or progressive relationships, it was more understandable that some people believed that politics wasn't for the likes if us.
However, surely the same argument is not quite as valid? I am still staggered at the number of relatively 'sane' adults I know who profess ignorance of or, more regularly, actively avoid 'politics'. If the last 63 years have taught us anything it is that when politicians (and their sponsors) are left to their own devices, they have a tendency to fundamentally f'things up. If they are not held completely accountable they will drive division, increase their own wealth and royally screw us over... every single time!
Time for a change, time to resist, time to remember - you have still got a heart!
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