Quick fix politicians

Sadly we are experiencing the traditional way of carrying out politics.

One I have little patience with. Masses of shallow publicity: leafleting, providing a candidate in every possible place at local elections even when there is a good person from another party already in place. The recent debates demonstrate shallow politics all they were, were cheap superficial emotionally charged slanging matches with reason hardly given a look in: some would say 'good television entertainment' but of little help in getting answers

I am a member of the Green Party because of the parties their policies are the closest fit with my beliefs, however when it comes to an election I don't necessarily vote for them. I vote for the person who is most likely to make a difference. It's all very good having the correct views at the top but what we want to see is politicians and parties who take their beliefs seriously and put them into action.

We at the moment have elections for the European Parliament taking place. From what I've seen largely from the very onesided view of Nigel Farage is that this parliament is out of control. Masses of money have been poured in new buildings which house bureaucrats who create legislation that is out of touch with the needs of real people. The one quality I will be looking for is  the determination to give the place a good shake up and reduce it's size and on the other hand focus on hammering out policies that represent the wishes of all countries. A very difficult task but passing legislation about the safety of certain products needs to come second to hammering out foreign policy. Policy that affects Europe's dealing with neighbouring countries and with Europe's basic needs.

Russia is gaining far too much power which it appears to be able to wield because it has valuable gas it can sell. Surely Europe needs to become self sufficient. It needs to use less and produce more. This message doesn't appear to have been taken on board. What I want to see is a leader of the European Parliament that has clout someone of the status of President Obama who speaks for the USA which in turn is a collection of very different states who manage with difficulty to thrash out a common policy.

Nigel Farage is wrong in thinking that the solution is to get out of Europe, he is only half way there. He recognises the problem but his solution is a cowardly one. He together with like minded politicians need to take on the reform of the European Parliament. What I see time and time again as the problem with politicians is not their policies: it's there determination to see through a solution. This is the quality we need to spot when we vote for our choice of candidate at the upcoming election. This will depend not on what they say but what they have done in the past. The most revealing thing will be this. This is where age helps us decide as older people will be able to demonstrate more of what they have done. I am always wary of 'young' thirty year olds that like students are full of 'fire' but have actually achieved little.