The State on the Retreat and Rise

Closing down in the cuts: The Allen Centre, Hove

While Mitt Romney attempts to defuse an electorally explosive video of the candidate talking with wealthy private donors and writing off half the population as 'dependents' who will not vote for him, here in the UK, the State is retreating in its role as 'carer' of the vulnerable. Yet, in other areas, such as the definition of marriage, it is on the march. It is a curious juxtaposition.

Benefits are perhaps to be 'frozen' in an effort to save money, at a time when it is likely unemployment will continue to rise in the UK amid rising costs of living. People who are 'dependent' on various services are being thrown to the dogs. Here in Brighton, two NHS services to those with mental illness are to close in the forthcoming cuts. Disappointment among service users is palpable.

The Allen Centre, Hove and a drop-in centre for those with mental health issues in the city centre in Buckingham Road are to close. These services may not be used by all people with mental health problems in Brighton and Hove, but act as a good and healthy service for mental health service users to access advice, build relationships and learn new skills.

So, we have a strange situation here in the UK, where the State is retreating from 'care' and beginning its abandonment of its role as an indifferent father to the poor, disabled, sick and infirm. Yet, on the other hand the State is taking on new competences which it had hitherto eschewed as beyond its remit. So, for instance, the State is attempting to redefine marriage. It is apparent that there are forces at work in the State that believe the same State that withdraws from supporting the sick could be the same instrument with which to end the lives of the sick. So, in fact, the State's role becomes wider and deeper than before, but instead of being a 'welfare' instrument, it becomes an instrument of life, or rather death.

Perhaps, in harder economic times, the true face of the 'welfare state' begins to show. Marxists, like Ed Miliband, are talking of a 'new relationship' between the citizen and the State. Exactly what kind of relationship is this? Can it be anything other than 'Big Brother'?

One thing that convinces me that the same sex marriage legislation is sinister is that the proposal not only redefines marriage but also defines who has a voice in society and whose voice is to be crushed. Not just the voice of the Church, but the voices of mothers, fathers, families and children would be silenced once the proposed legislation to be successful. Those, whether Christian or not, who did not like the idea of the school teacher teaching homosexuality to children as a 'marriage option' would have no redress to the State with which to voice their grievances. This has been proven in Massachusetts and in Canada, I believe.

In other areas, like surveillance and civil liberties, there seems little news that suggests that the State will be anything but pernicious and over-bearing in the lives of its citizens over the next few decades, in an increasingly unstable and 'insecure' world. Same-sex marriage, as well as redefining the institution itself, sorts for the State the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats as to who will be pliant and compliant in the Brave New World in which the 'new relationship' between State and citizen becomes ever and ever more a relationship of master and subservient citizen, or even slave.

The New Doctrine: Who is 'in' and who is 'out'?

What will happen to those who do not accept the Cameron-Clegg-Miliband-Lucas Doctrine? What will happen to the old-fashioned? Those with traditional views? What will happen to the non-conformists? What will happen to the bigots? What will happen to the heretics? What will happen to the unconvinced? What will happen to the dissenters? What will happen to those who, having feared from speaking out before the legislation, discover that they are in the dock if they do speak out afterwards? 'Gay marriage' is a watermark, a 'crossing the threshold' moment for the State of who will be 'in' and who will be 'out' once marriage is redefined. It divides the acquiescent and malleable citzens from the incredulous and suspicious.  It seems that entrance and participation in the 'Big Society' will have, as a central plank, the total acceptance of the LGBT agenda.


More worryingly still, what is going on with our Bishops? Will the sleeping giant that is the Catholic Church awake and roar like an angry encircled Russia, or will the voice of the Faithful have to come from a small minority in the pews of different Churches and in the Sanctuaries of the Houses of God, who have the guts and courage to speak out and loud?

I recently found this map, which gives readers the lowdown on where LGBT rights have been embraced to the point of marriage, where homosexuality is accepted and where it is punishable, obviously in Muslim countries. It's interesting that the vast area of the World in which 'gay marriage' seems not to be on the cards are the former Soviet bloc and the currently Soviet bloc. Download the map for viewing here.

I post this to remind readers that what we're up against is a global new World agenda (let's call it Agenda 21 for argument's sake). It is at once global and local, but for some reason, Russia, parts of the Middle East and Africa aren't keen. I guess that's just half the World that'll be 'bigots' then, Nick?

So, take comfort that, if you don't go along with the new doctrines of the State, that it is not just the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, terminally sick and 'unproductive' who are being thrown to the wolves. It's you and me, too, baby, because I don't like the State too much as it is. I don't want it to come any closer into my life than it already is. My new relationship is with God, the Blessed Mother of God, the Saints and Angels, the suffering souls in Purgatory, all my brothers and sisters on Earth, family and hopefully wife-to-be. As the poor and the mentally ill in Brighton are discovering, a relationship with the State can leave you feeling rather bereft. Do Marxists like Ed Miliband care about that? No, I doubt it. To Marxists, its just the relationship that matters - not the people themselves.

Perhaps Brighton's Church community centres can build an initiative to give the mentally ill a space to relax and have a cup of coffee when the NHS services stop. I guess that's what Cameron sees as the other plank of the 'Big Society'.