Rory Stewart is a member of the British parliament for Penrith and the Border. In June of 2012 he gave a speech for TedTalks Houses of Parliament. He talks about the looks he sees on people’s faces once he tells them his occupation is being a Politician, recognizing full well that in 2012 the citizens of England are becoming less trusting of their democratic government.
He notes that in Britain 84% of the people believe politics is broken, though no poll could be found upon a quick Google search. However, the viewpoint of the American’s trust in their government’s international problem solving ability is rising after it hit its low following the downtrend which coincides with the beginning of the Iraq war:
He wraps up calling out politicians for always having an answer for every question, stating they need to stop pretending to be “omniscient beings”. Going a step further, he calls out the citizens for their ineptitude. Democracy requires an informed public capable of making informed decisions from correct information and to be capable of not requiring a Nanny state government to hold their hand day in and day out.
Tags: Democracy, Google, Iraq, Rory Stewart, TED Talks
