Following the Pork Trail of British Politicos
Americans aren't the only ones concerned with how their government is spending their hard-earned tax dollars.
Those interested in how we are governed have been pretty engaged recently with President Obama’s budget and the pork that is flowing out of Washington, D.C. British taxpayers’ attention is equally engaged with the misuse of their money at the hands of their own government officials. Blogs such as Guido and The Devil’s Kitchen have repeatedly delved into these machinations. Guido has even provided a handy chart of the worst offenders. The Devil’s Kitchen lists a guide to what you receive when you become an MP. A damning piece in the Telegraph on the whole subject of MPs’ expenses has finally pushed the issue into the public consciousness and beyond the politics-obsessed blogosphere.
So great is the furor that the Telegraph has a whole subject header on this on its site. And in an effort to hear any defense the MPs might have, it has set up a “right to reply” booth for the politicos. It also boasts a top ten list of the worst offenders. One tabloid is even running a contest; the winner gets the same “perks” on expenses as his MP. This is similar to the contest in the U.S. where the creator of the best bailout video receives his share of the cost back.
One might wonder why this would be interesting to Americans tired of their politicians sticking their noses in the trough. Well, many British political pundits, bloggers, and even a few MPs are looking favorably at the American system in its efforts to keep politicians honest. While the British system has pretty much eliminated the temptation to take money from lobbyists and special interests for a campaign, it has opened up a whole new can of worms when it comes to expenses. Candidates have a fixed budget, no access to political advertising (the parties get a selected number of “party political broadcasts,” which are five minute documentaries), and not enough power to warrant lobbyist bribes.
They still have access to “pork” of sorts — begging the government (if it’s their party) to do all sorts of wonderful things in their constituency that they can then brag about. However, it’s nowhere near the scale of efforts by people like Sen Robert Byrd. As in the U.S., the abuse of power in the UK is not the domain of only the party in power. All three parties in the UK have their champion expense fiddlers. Things have become so bad that there is now an online petition demanding full transparency when it comes to MPs’ expenses.
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Andrew Ian Dodge blogs at Dodgeblogium.
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5 Comments
1. Delia:WOWIE. You broke it all down so succinctly! I hope the next tea parties really rear their patriotic heads in bigger numbers than before.
My only teensy fear is that people who come to the tea party rallies will be ridiculed or labled ‘radical’ or ‘extremist’ just by showing up. That being said, I think that was the whole reason why that stupid ‘leaked’ b.s. “extremist” propaganda chit against our military and religious right got play time.
What do I say to that?
Ohhhhh HELL to the NO!
Next tea party? I’m going to paint a sign that says, “Proud Right Wing Extremist!” With a big target in the middle of our UNITED STATES FLAG.
0bama? Yeah. Label us as ‘extremists’, you twat for brains, little peon puppet dung pile. Sorry if I’m not enamored of you or the third letter in your first name ‘pen’ you sack of feces for brains.
My sentiments to Borat DohBama:
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May 23, 2009 - 1:18 am 2. RobertG:|\./|
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Label us all the dirty names they want for opposing Obamics, National Health Care and such–they are NOT going to be our friends.
“Proud Right Wing Extremist!” Unite!
May 23, 2009 - 9:52 am 3. RobertG:Oh, and hell with the Brits–two World Wars and the Marshall Plan wasn’t enough? Somewhere between Concord and Yorktown I thought we settled that question.
Yankee come home, quit Europe, European ideas and damn near everywhere else.
May 23, 2009 - 9:54 am 4. Andrew Ian Dodge:So RobertG you think that British politics has nothing to teach American politics? Or vica-versa? The expense fiddling problem is rife in DC as well, as well as other pork-barreling behavior. Two different systems with the same problem and people angered enough to do something about it. That can only be a good thing for the anglosphere as a whole.
May 24, 2009 - 7:56 am 5. tommyt:obama and the dems wanna steal from Darwin’s winners in order to prop up Darwin’s losers. swell.
May 24, 2009 - 2:00 pm