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July 03, 2007
A very Middle Class revolt?
The Timesonline recently published an item discussing the fact that many "middle class" taxpayers are cheating on their taxes. Having read the item I had a small smile at the irony since the present government purports to be mainly middle and working class and are therefore now criminalising their own. While the Times writer suggested that the Middle Classes are rebelling I am not so sure. After all, they are the people who voted for a government that wanted to redistribute wealth through "fair" taxes and who supported the "fair" concept of a society based on the respect for the rights of all "minorities" even where this disadvantaged the majority.
A commentator (in the extended post below) suggests that this is a sign of a rebellion in the middle classes at being constantly over burdened with regulations, taxes and nannying. Again, I am not so sure, I think this is more about the exercise of power - the dominance of ideas. Suddenly I think the middle classes - the professionals such as lawyers, doctors, small businessmen and women, accountants and bankerrs are waking up to the fact that they have been conned. What has happened in our society is a subtle shift of power away from the electorate to a coterie of semi-dynastic fulltime politcians and civil servants. The electorate and the taxpayer no longer has a say in what is fair, reasonable or affordable, that is all decided by a small and powerful group in Westminster and Whitehall.
So, is this a middle class revolt? I would say not yet, but I suspect it could become one very rapidly if they see themselves further disadvantaged in favour of other "empowered" groups favoured by this government, and increasingly, by the "New Conservatives" of David Cameron.
Watch this space, we live in a precariously balanced house of cards. One clumsy move by the politicians or the civil service could bring the whole thing crashing about our ears. Then the only winners will be the modern Vanadls, Huns, Goths and Visigoths this government has been so assidiously courting from decades, for they already have positions within the corridors of power. Put there by the policies of "affirmative action" and "positive" discrimination - the very things the Middle-class has now come to recognise as a threat to their future and their children's futures. And the real irony of that is that these same Middle-class voters and taxpayers thought they were being terribly "liberal" in supporting them.
It can't happen here? I suggest a reading of the history of Rome from 400 to 480 AD. It was the collapse of the Middle Classes then that triggered the total collapse of the whole edifice.
The article suggests that this is a form of rebellion,' I suspect these misdemeanours are an expression of middle-class resentment and revolt. Society, they might feel, hasn't been so civil to them, so they are becoming less civil to it. This is not immorality, necessarily; it is civil disobedience.
A civil society is based on common consent and shared respect. That means, among other things, that civic virtue must be fairly rewarded.
Taxpayers and law abiders should be consulted and respected and enjoy the returns of good behaviour. They should be able to feel their efforts benefit themselves as well as others and they should be able to take pride in both. When they no longer do, their inclination to civic virtue will be undermined. They will become demoralised and disaffected and sooner or later will start breaking rules and laws they no longer consent to; illegal fox-hunting is an example.'
Posted by The Gray Monk at July 3, 2007 08:45 AM
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