Originally posted by centurian
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Yes, a sense of perspective is needed, but there are many nuances, too. A political system does not have to be a full blown, easily recognizable dictatorship to be oppressive. More often, it poses as a democracy to some extent while at the same time having, for all intents and purposes, authoritarian tendencies.
As it happens, our country's elites' default mode of dealing with the population is the stick/carrot approach (rather than a civilized, human-to-human approach).
Just look at HMRC's main mode of communication, which is straight out of 1984 (the novel): "we are watching you", "we are closing in on you", "if you don't do XXX, you are at risk of [insert punishment of your choice]"...or just the overall tone of every single letter they send you!
All in all, it is a very crude, unsophisticated way of dealing with the populace.
Contrast it, for example, with Northern Europe, where dealings with administration are polite, honest, and professional, and where the population is actually HAPPY to pay high tax, because people know the politicians will be held accountable for what the money is spent on.
(Yes, I know consent is always manufactured...but believe it or not, it is easier to get people to pay their taxes by talking to them like intelligent human beings, rather than treating everyone as "guilty until proven innocent" and using various "naming and shaming" tactics...)
It is a social contract that has no equivalent in the UK, where politicians just get away with making bad law, patching it with worse law (retrospective if necessary), and telling the plebs who dare protest to STFU.
I assure you the British way is quite peculiar when compared with many other western countries. Go work abroad for a year or two (in a non Commonwealth country), and you'll understand what I mean.
Rant over
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