Once more the UK is going through its democracy ritual. The choices for Prime Minister are perhaps less polarising than Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, but they feel uninspiring to me. The politics of envy play out once more when people look at the ex-investment banker Rishi Sunak and his rich wife. He is pilloried for being out of touch with ordinary people. But if you want a leader in a capitalist world, then he’s actually well qualified. His leadership opponent is Keir Starmer, a barrister and former Director of Public Prosecutions. Again, surely well qualified for high office. He has dragged the Labour Party back to the political centre ground, vacated by Jeremy Corbyn. But for all his prosecutorial experience he still often comes across as a little lightweight. On the surface the leadership choices this time look okay, so why is it all so underwhelming. Perhaps there is a general feeling of resentment felt towards politicians today. Boris’ tenure was undermined by poor ethics, and there is an awakening sense that Brexit might actually have been a bad idea after all. And something no politician seems to want to talk about either. If the polls are to be believed Keir Starmer will reside in 10 Downing Street come Friday morning, and the UK will have moved to the left, a bit.
This leftwards movement is counter to where most of the rest of the world is going politically. Hungary, Italy, the Nederlands, and France have already, or are in the process of moving more to the right of the political spectrum. And in the USA Donald Trump still leads in the polls. What is happening here? Is it a reaction to Russian aggression. I don’t think so, the right these days seems more aligned with Russia than ever before. The political right includes a broad range of people and concepts, it isn’t easy to boil this rightwards drift down into a single simple idea. In fact, the further you go to the left or right the more the ideas start to sound similar to each other, at least in some respects. Without knowing what the real underlying problem is the more difficult it is to decide what to do about it, if anything. Personally, I think that like any other election you need to find the candidate that most closely reflects your views and opinions. And I know that might not sound very helpful. But I think we need to worry less about what politicians are doing and more about what we are doing to improve our own lives. After all the true power of leadership comes from empowering other people. Vote for what aligns with you, but don’t wait for politicians to make your life better, or to give you the leadership you seek. Find that in yourself.
But how do you do that? Start with some honest self-reflection. Who is the true you? How do you want to express that in your life. What are you passionate about, what truly excites you. Act upon that sense of passion and excitement and be the real authentic you. Fear is often something that holds people back. What will other people think of me if I really am the person that I want to be instead of the person everyone else wants me to be. Or the fear of having enough money if I really did become my true self. How can my passion support me? Well, if you don’t act on it then you will never find out. Honestly explore any limiting beliefs you have that seem to hold you back. Do you really want that to be true about you. One thing to watch with limiting beliefs is that if you have them (and we all do to some extent) they become self-fulfilling prophecies. If I believe, “I am not good enough”, I behave in a ‘not good enough, manner’ in my relationships by not taking risks, by being needy or untrusting, or by settling for less. This then means that my relationships become unfulfilling, confirming that I really am not good enough. Or I act ‘not good enough’ at work by not pushing myself into new experiences or challenges, I play safe. This way I miss out on acquiring new skills and placing myself in positions to get noticed and promoted. Again, this all produces the evidence that I am not good enough. But it’s not true, we are just making it look true. Once you see what you’re doing, you can change it.
The choice, as I see it this year, is not so much about the politicians you want as leaders it is about you deciding who you are, choose carefully.
“I never had a policy; I have always tried to do my very best each and every day.” Abraham Lincoln
