Some are more equal than others

This morning I bought the Irish Times to see what's going on there re these elections. It had an article about Libertas, who are standing a list against us in these elections here in London. Now I know who they are. It is anti-Lisbon Treaty list funded by the same Declan Ganley who financed the No Vote campaign in the Irish referendum on the Treaty.

For a democracy to be genuine everybody should have an equal say but, under capitalism, some -- those who have loads of money -- are more equal than others as they can afford to buy time, and finance, candidates to express their views. Ganley isn't the only capitalist doing this in these elections. The UKIP campaign is being largely funded by the millionaire Stuart Wheeler. And in the 1997 General Election here Private Eye's "Goldenbollocks", Sir James Goldsmith, set up and paid for the Referendum Party.

Some of those on the Libertas list have been recycled from the now defunct Referendum Party. It's doubtful if they would be paid as much to speak as the £50,000 the Irish Times reports Ganley paid Lech Walesa, but, after the election is over, it will be interesting to examine the Libertas list's source of income in detail. In any case, their intervention in this election pollutes it. Having said this, the election procedures are still adequate enough to allow a socialist majority to express its will and get its way.