Freedom for Tooting?

"Power to the People" was, if I remember correctly the rallying cry of "Wolfie" in "Citizen Smith" on TV all those years ago. Given that he was - or was trying to be - a Trotskyite, it is a little strange to find that it is now the slogan of the Conservatives in the coming election. It is of course a more or less direct translation of "democracy" (demos = the people, kratos = power) so it should be a good thing - yes? Well maybe so, if it means what it says, but think about it. It does not mean that anybody is going to come knocking on your door, asking for your views. If indeed power is going to be given to the people, then it will be left up to people to exercise that power, and you know what that means - those who shout loudest will be listened to, and the rest of us ignored. We will simply have exchanged one lot of tinpot dictators (MPs) for another lot (Mr and Mrs Selfopinionatedbiggob and their entourage). The difference of course is that we do have some small measure of control over MPs (the ballot box) whereas we have no control over Mr and Mrs S and Co. So overall, I am not impressed.