The election looms and, as a Christian, I still feel alienated from the electoral process because all options leave me disillusioned. So pushing all parties aside I thought it might be fun to share the manifesto of my dreams. Let me present the newly formed (in my head) Tomlinson party…my idea of what ought to be offered the electorate for the good of our nation.
1. A return to Christian values
Christian voters feel marginalised because the ethical basis on which we are governed is drifting/being driven from its historic Judeo-Christian foundation to adopt and serve a secular egalitarian vision. I would stamp out the secularism rampant in society and ask voters of all faiths to embrace our Christian heritage instead. The electorate should be made aware that Christianity gave us Oxford and Cambridge, our greatest schools and universities, our hospitals etc. Highlighting this cultural indebtedness, alongside the myriad ways in which Christianity continue to enhance Britain (via soup kitchens, volunteerism, etc) is vital to my campaign. We must stop being ashamed of our Christian values and be helped to see how they can again form our identity for the good of our future.
2. Liberty must prevail
A truly Christian nation would be great news for people of all faiths and none. Because Christianity is still the greatest champion of personal freedom and conscience this world has known. It created the Western values people hold dear, the values being dismantled in our day. Voters must be helped to see that the current ideology has only ever thrived parasitically on a Christian host and only ever leads to the growth of Nanny State at clear cost to individual freedom. With Christianity jettisoned the State becomes the god and that is bad news for all.
A nation valuing difference and respecting liberty would accept that Jewish butchers need not sell pork to their customers due to their sincerely held beliefs. But it would understand that others may sell bacon. A common sense approach that ought to be applied to Christian bakers today, but isn’t, where gay activists are demanding produce that is an affront to the baker’s beliefs. People of all faiths and none would be encouraged to live alongside one another in mutual respect. Much as we did for years when Britain was a Christian nation.
This would inform a compassionately controlled immigration policy in which people were welcomed into Britain from abroad- with delight- so long as they were sincerely looking to contribute to the communities they inhabit and respect the Judeo-Christian values of these isles.
3. The family at the heart of society
A return to Christian Britain would put the family at the heart of society. This would mean parents being valued as the chief educators of children. There would be significant tax breaks for married couples to encourage parents to remain together for the benefit of the next generation. My party would work hard to ensure one salary was sufficient to pay the mortgage- allowing mothers genuine choice and flexibility. A luxury only afforded to the wealthy at present. In the interests of the young the notion of “gay marriage” would be abolished. Instead civil partnerships would be offered within the civic realm to reflect the liberty and respect shown to those not choosing to live by Christian standards.
4. A smaller state
The State has become bloated and expensive in recent decades believing itself worthy of probing into every corner of our private lives. So one of the main thrusts of the new party would be a massive reduction in government. Subsiduarity would be the order of the day. Help must be there for the vulnerable, and more than at present, but the aim would be to allow families and communities greater freedom to govern themselves. The salaries of government employees would return to sensible levels with a cull on corruption and excessive expenses and pensions. A move to drastically lower taxes and ensure revenue flows to communities- for libraries etc- not the back pockets of the few. The new State would be there to serve the community and not to dictate. An end to the new Orwellian Britain and its heavily imposed PC agenda.
5. Education
There would be a major overhaul of education. In essence greater trust would be shown to teachers to educate without government interference. The red tape would go with only a few inspections to root out the useless. And the ideology currently rampant within the current curriculum would be scrapped with an emphasis on returning to a model in which we teach children how to think not what to think. We would insist on the highest possible academic standards.
6. On health
A Christian culture would insist that health services work to the end of sustaining not ending human life. There would be much less management of hospitals but greater emphasis given to ethical considerations. The taking of human life would be criminalised that all may be truly protected from conception to the grave.
7. On finance
In recent years capitalism has been overthrown in favour of corporationalism. Enough of the huge cartels, the big supermarkets and giant corporations who are never allowed to fail or pay tax. Back to a nation rewarding success and encouraging a level playing field. Less cronyism and more help to small businesses and local communities etc.. Banks would be regulated to ensure that a greedy few were not gambling with the future of the many.
8. Crime and punishment
At present the law is often an ass. The poor are not as well served as the wealthy by the judiciary. Prisons would be run to reflect our Christian culture with prisoners living under a Benedictine rule. The prayer would need to be optional – to reflect our libertarian values- but all would have to attend services! A bit like school chapel when I was young.
This would – in my opinion- transform lives. And a huge amount of work would be done to help rehabilitate prisoners after they have served time. Too often today they are abandoned and offered no real opportunity to choose a new life.
So there you have what I would do. A very Christian model for the nation to follow. And one that would save us from the Marxist inspired nanny Statism offered by most every party today. Would it get your vote?
