As a dedicated Liberal I’ve always vaguely subscribed to the Whig view of history, defined roughly that, by and large, on the whole and in the main, things are gradually getting better. Improvements are due to the gradual progress made in the development of democracy, increases in individual liberty, and advances in science and technology. There are, of course, occasional steps backwards, but the direction is generally onwards and upwards.
To take each in turn, since 1945 in the UK we’ve seen the increase in women’s and minority representation in parliament, and the creation of effective specialist committees; we no longer hang people, racial discrimination is illegal, gays, lesbians, and unmarried mothers get a better deal, and couples can live together respectably without formal ties if they prefer things that way; and science and technology have made astonishing strides, especially n the fields and medicine and communications.
On the downsides, we still don’t have a fair election system, turnout at elections has fallen, local government has been enfeebled and the executive’s control over parliament has increased intolerably; individual and institutional racism and suspicion of “the other” endure and have become a campaigning tools for mainstream parities as well as the extreme right; some scientific “advances” (eg plastics) are polluting the planet or contribute to climate change, improvements in communications have made it much easier to disseminate misinformation as well as enlightenment – and nuclear weapons, could bring an end to most life on the planet, except for microbes.
But by and large (again) Britain is a much better place to live in now than it was 80 years ago, and much the same can certainly be said of most of Europe and probably most parts of the rest of the world (exceptions being such as Tibet, Myanmar, parts of China, and, of course, the areas where “minor” wars persist.)
However the election and actions of President Trump very clearly thrown a spanner in this cosy view of steady progress.
But we’ve been there before.
Consider the world at the turn of the last century, say 1900 to 1910. A Liberal government with a massive majority set about taxing the rich to establish the welfare state, reducing the powers of the aristocracy in the House of Lords, amid growing recognition of the right for women to participate in politics; there hadn’t been a major war in Europe for 80+ years; the Royal Navy “ruled the waves,” we were on friendly terms with Germany, which already had a welfare state and Edward VII established the Entente Cordiale with France; the British Empire ruled about two thirds of the World’s ’s population and thought it was doing them a favour by bringing “Civilisation, Christianity and Commerce” to primitive lands and peoples; railways were taking the workers away for holidays at the seaside, cars, radio and cinema were being invented, and the Americans were keeping themselves to themselves at the other side of the world.
What was not to like?
Yet for no apparent reason other than international rivalry which appeared at first to be no more than school sport-day style enthusiasm, by 1914 the world entered into the most devastating war it had experienced to that date, which continued for four years through a combination of pride and obstinacy.
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