Is a little knowledge dangerous?
ELECTION 2025 has been launched, this newspaper has had a say (the first of many) and now it’s time for the chattering classes to get involved.
Next week sees the staging of two informal drop-ins for would-be candidates. The social media response to this has been mixed, and truly, it is difficult to assess whether these things are a good or bad idea.
It can surely only be a good thing that would-be candidates know something about what they are letting themselves in for.
An at least reasonably-informed candidate could be expected to do a better job than a complete ingenue.
The concerns emerge if you believed that a deputy can be too trained, even indoctrinated, in a way of government that you already have significant concerns about.
Do we want to vote for those who will willingly subscribe to ‘we’ve always done it this way’?
But is that the real troublemaker in government? Or is it the ‘I’m going to shake this place up a bit’ candidate, who rails against the system, thinks – and states – they’re going to do things differently, and then comes up against opposition and either rows back on those commitments and fits in, or blunders on with varying degrees of effectiveness.
They say a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
But at election time it almost certainly helps.