Wednesday 10 September 2008

Why do New Tories hate singles then?

What's wrong with single people? The so-called New Tories seem to have a problem with them. They obviously categorize the world into married people, and... everyone else. Not sure why they feel the need to promote government interference into your personal life and want to make a judgement about your choice of singledom or coupledom. If you thought Tories were against state intervention, think again. Prospective parliamentary candidate Richard Graham (Gloucester) says: "My wife has three sisters who are divorced...my wife and I have been happy together and we think marriage is the right thing." Err, Richard your wife's sisters probably thought marriage was the right thing for them too at the time. And whether they did or not, why should it be right that people who are married get a state bonus just for tying the knot. So singles wake up to the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of you who are going to pay more tax than your married cousins. That's obviously fair and reasonable! Better go out and find yourselves a wife or husband. Conservative PPC Jeremy Mouton reckons a £1,000 bonus for getting married would be very popular in his constituency. Yeah, Jeremy maybe with married people. What about everyone else? Obviously there are some serious points here about why the Conservatives feel the need to interfere, social conservatism, and more importantly why they are saying some people (the married ones) are better than others (singles, single parents, divorced people, couples living together and almost everyone else).
According to a Guardian report 84% of Conservative candidates think the tax system needs to promote marriage. Shaun Bailey (Hammersmith PPC) thinks right now being married is almost a stigma. Wake up and smell the roses Bailey. There's no stigma about being married in 21st century Britain. Being married generally makes life easier; you get someone to share the work with; look after the kids when you go to the supermarket; and to share the bills.
And as for tax - why should you have to pay more tax just because of your marital status? Stigmatisation, no thanks.

1 comment:

Rage against the Machine said...

This article has almost got it spot on. The Tories insistance on promoting the "Family" in British society is out of date, and merely confirms my belief that the Party has not changed one bit. In this and other respects it is rabidly Victorian. Times have moved on.

Gay men and women along with bisexuals are becoming more confident and single parents are, despite a certain amount of stigma, becoming more of a norm in British society. The nuclear family as traditionally defined is becoming more of a minority, and this petrifies the Tories. No doubt to them this represents a radical and profound shift towards more progressive and inclusive attitudes among the country's population. A distinct threat to their conservatism. Values of exclusivity and a hostility to what they perceive to be how we "should" live our lives.

Why should gay people, single parents and others pay taxes which would provide incentives designed to socially engineer families. I believe this to be both financially and socially unjust, and something which has the potential to be dangerous.

As I believe, the Tories would wish to compel those who are married and wish to split up to go to mediation and resolve their differences. Why? If a couple wishes to split up, the Government has no right to intervene. In any case would this not lead to an increase in domestic abuse, and a multitude of other social problems.

In any case it is this attitude which makes a total mockery and reveals as a sham, the Tory Party's claim to be an inclusive and "Gay Friendly" political movement. It is anything but progressive.

Given this, I believe that the Labour Party could turn the tables on the Tories by labelling them as the Party of "Social Engineering"