Large scale disengagement from politics by growing numbers of the people in many long established western democracies is now a clear problem. As standards of living have risen and more and more legislation has come into effect to cushion us from some of the less appealing aspects of life many eligible voters no longer see any difference between politicians of opposing parties. This is hardly surprising as those politicians are now occupying the middle ground and have broadly simmilar policies designed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

The UK political scene is now following the US model and we have "career" politicians who have either had very little or, in some instances, no experience of a career outside of politics. If we go back 20 years or so we at least had Cabinet Ministers who had held senior positions in commerce before entering politics and therefore had a basic grounding in the principles of running a business. These people could see what needed to be done to run a market economy and encourage growth. Today we have a collection of lawyers who run scared of bad opinion polls, don't have a clue about the level of burden they are placing on enterprise, don't want to upset minority interest groups (even at the expense of ignoring the will of the majority) and who cling to the reigns of power at all costs. None of these things stimulate public interest in politics, hence why we have such a poor choice of candidates come election day.

I personally cannot see an end to this jaded system unless somehow taking public office in later life, after having enjoyed success in a chosen career, is once again seen as a fitting method of giving something back to the society which allowed you to be successful in the first place. This is the only way to regularly breathe new life into politics and stop deals being done to keep political careers going. This might persuade the public to re-engage with the system and cast their vote as the people they are voting for are offering new ideas and building upon previous achievements rather than letting them stagnate.

I think I've been reading too many Tom Clancy novels...