Who watches the watchers

There was an old joke during the cold war that the russian secret police patrolled in threes, one to read, one to write and one to watch the two intellectuals, and whilst it was a joke, it had an element of truth to it. The soviet state was riddled with mistrust as a function of the levels of secrecy that were expected. It was impossible to know for certain what your colleagues motives were, so it was standard practice to expect the worst. In the post cold war era we seem to have forgotten this cynicism and are shocked when we are the victims of underhand practices, whether by individuals, corporations or politicians. It seems odd to me that we don't as a matter of course question everything that we experience, and start with an idea that most people have an agenda that does not marry to our own.

We should be questioning our political leaders far more vigorously than we do, looking far harder at the companies that take our money, standing up for our own beliefs and ideals rather than being dictated to. We have a political system that encourages public engagement in the political process yet many of us chose not to vote, leaving those in power with tacit permission to do as they please because their populous "doesn't much care". Take the current talk about the seperation of Scotland from Great Britain. This is a fairly unambiguous decision, given that the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) made a referendum on independence an election pledge and are now in power. Further, the question is one for Scotland only, so why are we discussing at length whether a referendum is the right course of action, and if it is, should England have a referendum too?

These are distractions, and a means to avoid a referendum, simply because the SNP is unsure as to whether they will get the result they want. It is a nonsense, they should just get on with it and see what happens, but who is in place to insist on this? Who watches the watchers?......