Ed Dowding

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!

Dissolution of the Long Parliament by Oliver Cromwell given to the House of Commons, 20 April 1653

Hello, Democracy Fans!

Tomorrow (Thursday 4th) is voting day, so be sure to find your local polling station and get out there and vote! Because this year there are A LOT of muppets running. (If only.. that would actually quite fun…) UKIP and BNP are going to do very well in these elections as the knee-jerk populus votes in response to symptoms and not problems, and independent candidates will receive a bit of a boost on account of the expenses fuss.

So please please please choose your vote wisely.

• Find out who your local candidates are
• Remember that this is an EU election, not a UK election, so voting down party lines doesn’t matter
• Read all the policies and look for SUBSTANCE in what they’re saying. (It is not enough to restate the problem, you have to believe that they will have ideas for an integrated solution, too)
• Encourage others to vote tomorrow, too, perhaps by saying you’re going to be voting on your way to work tomorrow, or going with a few friends at lunch time if you work near home
• Do not spoil your ballot paper! No matter how much fun it may be to vote “you’re all bastards who have clearly never read history, science, geography, psychology or … in fact what DO you know about?” it alas counts for nothing, and you’re the one who ends up facing the consequences, not them.

Now alas you will not be able to vote for me, even if you live in the South West, since I voluntarily withdrew after voting closed and after a few chats with Jury Team.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the main two are:

1. Thanks to your 475 votes, I was #2 on the ballot. This is excellent, but not 1st place. This means that in order for me to be elected in, voters would first have to elect in the person who is #1 on the ballot.

This person, Sally Smith, is absolutely the worst type of person who could ever be elected to the EU. Not only is she a former Daily Mail journalist, she is a typical bar-propping pub ranter who cries that “urgent action MUST be taken!” but offers no ideas what that urgent action might be, and that she’s the one who is to execute it. See for yourself at http://www.voteforsallysmith.com/page2.html

There was no way that I could encourage people to vote for me via her, and I’m not a sufficient arsehole or poor strategist to give her the oxygen of publicity by kicking up a fuss about her shortcomings, so felt it best to stand down and concentrate on doing something more worthwhile with my time. More on this shortly.

2. Jury Team itself as an organisation is weak. I had a meeting with their team a few days after voting closed and they were shambolic and were going to provide little in the way of support, treating this as a trial run for the May 2010 elections. They also sent emails and phone calls trying to whip their independent candidates into line, something in direct opposition to their own policy. (To their credit they have bought on more competent people in the last few weeks, but that’s too late.)

So since I’ve not been running, what HAVE I been doing?

It’s very exciting! The mission behind the MEP push was to do what I can to make the world a better place. Well I’m glad to say I’ve found an idea which can do this.

GoodBreaks will be a site which allows people to trade 4 to 6 hours work per day – typically gardening, farming, harvesting, but also encompassing other areas like restoration and building, housework, and possibly also professional trade – in exchange for board and lodging in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

This allows ‘guests’ to get a break in the country, learn new skills at no cost, reconnect with the food chain, and possibly test drive a lifestyle change, whilst providing smallholders, B&Bs, and small local organsiations with the support they desperately need but can not afford.

This is currently going through a ‘friends and family’ funding round, and a comprehensive investment presentation with cash projections, market analysis, and so forth is available. If you are interested in becoming a shareholder in this company, which you will notice taps in to both a societal and economic shift towards healthier eating and growing-your-own, and low cost holidays with an element of voluntourism, and has large international growth opportunities, please email me at me@eddowding.com and I’ll send you a PDF.

Meantime, I’m also trying to make a bob or two to keep the income incoming whilst I grow GoodBreaks, so if anyone knows of any web projects or businesses which could use some help, I’m available: www.eddowding.com/cv

Thank you, everyone, for your help and support, and happy voting!

Here’s a handy 30 question survey which will tell you which of the main parties you are most allied to: http://euprofiler.eu

At midnight last night, the voting closed on my – our – 14 day long bid to make me your independent MEP for the South West.

We made it to second place on the ballot, with some 460 votes (in the fury of urgent texting I forgot the actual number, but will find out on Monday), but were, despite being 20+ in the lead during the day, were eventually pipped at the post by ~20 votes.

I need to work out whether it makes sense to continue (there’s some weirdness in the electoral structure and the effects of proportional representation). I shall keep you informed, of course.

For now I can’t put my thoughts of the experience any better than this:

The [..] freshness of the world-to-be intoxicated us.

We were wrought up in ideas inexpressible and vaporous, but to be fought for. We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves: yet when we achieved and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew.

Youth could win, but had not learned to keep: and was pitiably weak against age.

We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly and made their peace.

T.E.Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

There are lots of thank yous to be said. From the 460ish who voted, to the people who helped spread the word, especially on the last day, when about 200 votes were added, I thank you all.

Super special thanks to a few special people – you know who you are, and there are so many that it would be unfair to pick out names here – who read and advised on ideas (sometimes over many years), proofread, inspired, believed, and motivated. Oh, and asked me to read T.E.Lawrence.  You are all splendid people, to whom I am deeply indebted. Thank you so much for your help and support.

Let’s see what’s next.

The transcript of the introductory video at www.elected.in, as requested by a few folks:

Hello.

My name’s Ed Dowding and I’m running to be an independent MEP, because I’m bored of politics.

I’m bored of the short term thinking, I’m bored of the arguments about people and not about issues, and I’m bored by the way all the truly important problems are ignored.

We seem to have forgotten that the way we live is a CHOICE. It can seem at times that there is so much history shaping the way we do things that it would be impossible to change now. It can seem that we live in two worlds: the one we know in our daily experience, and the one we read about and see on TV. It can seem that no matter what we do or how hard we try, the bad guys still sneak away to safety, and the good guys never get a break.

Today, I’m asking you to give me a break. Today I’m asking you to vote for me so that I can try to make a difference in Europe.

Europe started as an idea for peace, progress, and trade, and then quickly moved into the public realm and started influencing our lives in more direct ways. In the 90s I used to think that they should stop, just wind it back to a free trade area and leave it at that.

But over the last 15 to 20 years, we have grown increasingly aware of emerging global problems. Not only problems born of globalisation like fair trade, and huge companies throwing their weight around, but also the big problems:

SARS and bird flu have shown us how quickly disease can spread in a connected society; climate change evidence mounted and we had storms and HUGE floods. We have had wars about religion and oil .. oil, a commodity which underpins our entire economy — an economy which has become untethered from value, and been shown to have severe flaws, not just if left unregulated, but also inherent in its very structure and operation.

And in response to these problems what do we get from our party politicians? We get… well … not enough. Some nice work against price fixing in the medicinal drugs market, disproportionate amount of chat about a constitution (which I’m against, by the way), and pressure on mobile phone manufacturers to all use the same charger. Which is neat and will save a lot of waste, but leaves me with the feeling that many of them are fiddling, whilst Rome burns.

Does the EU not understand that trust is earned? Do they not understand that if they do the job we WANT them to do, and confront these problems head on, THEN we will see that the EU can be a thing of value?

THEN we will see ourselves as part of an amazing organisation that is solving mankind’s problems together, because there is no way that we can solve these problems on our own.

Well it turns out that the EU DOES know this. If you read the research and ideas coming out of the EU, many of them are BRILLIANT. Marvellous solutions for making transport zero-carbon, large funds for energy research and implementation, some excellent work in early identification of pandemics, and much more. You should take a look at europa.eu.

So if we know what needs to be done, why aren’t we doing it?

Because the people who make the choices, the politicians, lack the vision to see the solutions; and those who do are allied to parties which work on vote chasing and short term appeal. They are frightened to deal with the problems, because they think you are not ready to face them.

You’re not stupid. You know there’s an energy crisis. You know there’s a population crisis. You know there’s climate crisis. You know that something really needs to be done about these.

But it’s also a lot easier if you can make it someone else’s problem. So you did that. You assigned politicians to represent you in this representative democracy.

But they haven’t. Even given the scale and immediacy of some of problems they’re supposed to fix they have stuck to party lines and old solutions based on a fundamental misapprehension of the problems: aid policies based on the same system which created the need for aid, a war on terror which creates more terrorists, farming methods which create famine, legislation which is aimed to help businesses, but ends up ruining them; a currency which is supposed to bring stability but which magnifies the financial shocks. In the words of Einstein, ‘we can not solve problems using the same thinking used when they were created’

What we need in Europe – what we need in ALL politics – is people who don’t care about politics. We need people who care about getting the best long term solution. We need people who are strong enough to stand up for what is right, — even if it’s painful.

People who can talk with honest urgency about fish stocks and agricultural policies, who will campaign loudly and effectively about the overwhelming need for transparency and openness in Europe, people who will represent your DISGUST that we can bail out banks but not find money for public transport and energy; people who will work tirelessly to bring you the answers you deserve.

It is not overstating the situation to say that humanity faces a choice right here, and right now, about how we deal with the century to come.  — About how we deal with problems which simply can not be adequately dealt with at the national level. Problems which require us to all pull together if we’re going to see the next century.

Not only does humanity face a choice, but YOU face a choice. This is YOUR economy, YOUR country, YOUR Europe, YOUR world, YOUR life, YOUR future, YOUR vote… this is YOUR moment to make a difference.

Here’s what you can do, right now, to make change happen:

Please vote for me before midnight today, Friday 24th April, by text EDDOW01 to 86837.

Learn more about the issues at www.electEd.in, or by googling ‘Ed Dowding MEP’

And put it in you diary to vote in the elections on 4th June. If you are not yet registered to vote, you can get a form online at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

If we work together, we can do this.

Only THREE days left to vote! After about a week of your support, we’re currently 8th in the whole of the UK!

If I was standing in most of the rest of the country we’d be winning by a long way. But in the South West, we’re currently 3rd. Bronze? BRONZE?! No! You deserve GOLD, surely? We’ve come this far, this is no place to stop!

Update 2pm: Make that 2nd!! Silver? SILVER?! No! You deserve GOLD, surely? We’ve come this far, this is no place to stop!

When we win on Friday, we’re going to need to find a lot of votes… about 200,000 in fact. Yikes, right? The only way this is going to happen is if the media pick up on this BIG TIME and it goes viral EVERYWHERE.

When 4th June comes, there can not be a person in the South West who hasn’t at least HEARD about what we’re trying to do here: About how we’re trying to bring vision and reason into politics, how we’re no longer satisfied with small minded solutions to global problems, how this is not political game any more.

They need to know that we want to create a future which rocks! Which hits the problems head on and smashes through to the other side knowing that we do so simply because that is what needs to be done, because we know there is no longer time for sidestepping and posturing.

So I really need you to help me, and help me with all you can do in the 48 HOURS, BECAUSE VOTING ENDS ON FRIDAY* — remember we need to tell as many people as we can.

If you’ve not voted yet, please text EDDOW01 to 86837 — that’s all right now!

The lesson from this week is that just sending an email is not enough. People don’t care, it’s just another email. I need to you make this personal.

• Have a quick look at www.elected.in and find a few points you really agree with – that will make this next bit YOUR cause, not mine. I’m not doing this this for me, I’m doing it for all of us. The idea of ‘sliding scale, and human readable legislation‘ is a popular one.(Believe me, I have precious little innate desire to stand up and do this but I have been pushed forward. The main problem is that no one else is saying what we want said — when did you last hear a politician you agreed with this much?)
• Are you in an office? Are you seeing friends today? Tell ‘em – get them to vote! Actually WATCH THEM whilst they text, supporting YOUR cause!
• Are you on a mailing list or discussion group? Please make them aware of the elections and ask them to vote for me. Please pick a point and make it personal! Not just “my mate’s doing this.. ” — OWN IT! This is YOUR cause here!

Get out there be the change you want to see! Don’t do it later, this will take just two minutes — make it happen, and make it happen NOW!

If everyone one of you gets just FIVE votes today, we’ll storm it!

LET’S DO THIS!!

*Sorry for the shouting, but that’s for the skim readers! (And I’M VERY EXCITED THAT WE’RE DOING THIS!)

We are at one of those moments in history when the challenges are international and the only means of dealing with them is at least on a regional level. [...] [R]egions can and must supply the answers to all sorts of issues from the environment to the economy. If the world is to recover, then it needs a Europe which acts and is a single market.

Britain can [encourage a multi-speed Europe] if it likes. There are endless opportunities and Sarkozy is there ready to join with us in exploiting them. But it is also true that the country cannot afford the Union to collapse under the weight of this recession. Nor can it be in our interest to join an alliance of the big against the small when we have so much interest in allying with them on most issues.

All of a sudden Europe has become an interesting place, although you won’t have any reflection of that when voters come to choose their European candidate in June.

Source: Adrian Hamilton, writing in The Independent

If I’ve understood the point clearly, this seems to propose that we can not have a multiple speed EU AND a single market without making the recession worse, or ruthlessly exploiting our neighbours to save our own skins.

I do not see why this has to be the case. Europe is not just about the finance and trade. A multi-speed Europe would cover all sorts of agreements, such as labour movement and migration, research contributions, transport harmonisation, energy and environmental policy, and security and public health cooperation, to name but a few.

IF we want it, we can have a loosely bound EU which acknowledges that its members are unlikely to ever be in the same place heading in the same direction on all things. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it is the diversity of Europe which gives it the strength and adaptability to create synergy in the regional solutions for the international problems, and that if we make the EU work well, she will work for us all.

I am currently running to be an MEP candidate. Please take a few moments to read more at www.ElectEd.in, and text EDDOW01 to 86837 to vote for me!

Voting closes in 10 days!

Anyone can vote, so please encourage everyone with you now and later today to do the same! Write ‘EDDOW01 to 86837′ on the back of your hand, then you don’t have to do the remembering and other people will ask you what it is!

Economics has a great deal to answer for.

A short while ago some people tried to work out what should be done with the economy. They wanted to formalise it and build in growth and progress as a goal. All very noble and worthwhile, and really very effective when you look at where we are now versus where we were a few hundred years ago.

But… actually has it been successful? It’s worked, that much is clear. But a car with a flat tyre ‘works’, it’s just more likely to crash, won’t get you where you want to go as quickly, will use more fuel, and after lots of miles will undermine the structural integrity of the other parts. (Is there any problem anywhere which can’t be equated with some aspect of cars?!)

Actually much of the progress we’ve enjoyed has come in spite of the way we do things, not because of it.  I can’t help thinking that it has been largely due to the paradigm shifts in medicine, and the socially progressive effects of the industrial revolution, which was pushed forward by polymath and socially conscientious revolutionaries (eg) who enjoyed innovation and exploration for its own sake and had a desire to help their communities.

But I digress. This is not intended to be a diatribe on economic models and their suitability for the modern world (but you can be sure there will be one soon enough), this is intended to provide an introduction to the topic and draw attention to the impeccably constructed paragraphs of Robert Kennedy talking about GDP values pretty much everything, apart from that which is truly important. (Also available in video form below, which is probably better because it was written as a speech, not an essay, and benefits from his delivery.)

We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor national achievement by the gross national product. For the gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highway carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them. The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods, and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads . . . It includes Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our country.

And if the gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of public officials . . . the gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America — except whether we are proud to be Americans.