Our story begins, as these stories often do, with the election of a new Conservative government. The chosen power structure understands that in order to maintain its stranglehold over the people, it must implement measures that cause greater divide and rule. As long as communities are broken down and unity between the people is absent, there is no risk of an uprising against the few powerful elite in control. The next step to them is obvious: to use the widely accepted Protestant work ethic as a catalyst for the people's own enslavement. A society that observes free time and leisure as scandalous, where one must always be seen to be working harder than their neighbour or co-worker, is a society hell bent on ego preservation through self-interest and providing the illusion of always doing something of perceived value. Therefore productivity is seen as paramount. Humans must be wage slaves and resources to be exploited by lawless corporations. They are paid just enough to survive but not enough to live. As desperation for money grows in families, the elite receive even more power and cement their position of dominance. The weak, needy, poor and the sick are no longer classed as humans. They are downgraded to junk status. They are eyesore parasites who must be confined to specific regions of the country and left to rot gradually. The public are encouraged to view them as petty thieves, to ignore their troubles and to shun them in the street. A policy is put into place that removes wealth from the bottom and sends it to the top, forcing families away from their communities and into condensed, heavily populated areas of cheap rent, rampant crime, intense poverty and high unemployment. The end result of the policy creates a divide in the country between the increasingly prosperous South and the rotting North. The capital serves as a hive of capitalism and extreme poverty with no area in-between. Monetary power is condensed to a tiny financial centre full of the 1% richest in the country and owned by wealthy foreign buyers. The outer lying areas are filled with "unproductive" humans who despite their desperate efforts to revolt and cause political change, end up suppressed by the will of the police and the military and are kept in check by curfews, background checks, intrusive spying, restricted zones and food handouts. The city and its financial zone must be propped up and preserved at the expense of all other areas in the country, even if this means the majority of families living just above or below the poverty line will ultimately suffer. When the only opposing political party to the elite lacks leadership and throws in the towel, it effectively joins the other side. This grows the majority of the government into an overwhelming one and transforms the country into a One Party State where no political or social rebellion is possible, the people are kept in check, the actions in the capital by the elite are hidden in veils of secrecy, the politicians are segregated from the revolting public by mansions with electronic gates and high security, and the people are forced to fight over a very limited number of hours available, competing with huge influxes of immigrants over part-time work at local factories or cafes. The government then uses the media to reiterate over and over that we are one of the richest nations on the planet, and we must find a way to end poverty and inequality. It uses the same scapegoat as it did before, targeting a small minority of "benefits scroungers" and highlighting them as the main problem to be dealt with. The public reacts in the same way as it did before, reinforcing the belief of a strict Protestant work ethic, demonising leisure time, viewing humans as monetary resources and attacking the poor, weak, needy and sick for their lack of contribution. The result once again is the removal of wealth at the bottom, the shift to the rich, and the eradication of the unsightly. The clever and most cunning part was the tool the government used: indifference. They allowed the problem to get worse over time, got the desired response of selfishness and ignorance from the public, then implemented the solution based on the public's outcry. The best part was that the government could not be touched or brought to answer for their actions, because after all, they were only acting and serving in the interests of what the people wanted. - Richard Parr/Gaurdian Comment Link: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/21/conservatives-redefining-sick-disabled-welfare-bill
