An incoherent ramble about Labour

It's going to take more than a loin stirring video to pull me over to Labour. See, this is the thing that has been annoying me about the Labour party for some time, that there seems to be a complete inability amongst the Labour government and Parliamentary party to admit that they've been a complete let down on many values.

It's all very well and good bleating on about how, historically, Labour have been the party of the working class and the underprivileged, but when you consider some of the things they've done in the past twelve years it grates, it really fucking grates. New Labour got into bed with big business and it seems few people in the party have the balls to stand up and say "Enough!", or to at least acknowledge that mistakes have been made.

How exactly does spiralling debt for students equate to the party for the underprivileged? Since when would a party of the working class continue to put up with an unelected second chamber based on inherited wealth and power? Where is the solidarity in actively promoting the sale of weapons to repressive regimes, and then pulling the plug on an inquiry into bribery and corruption? How do you reconcile fervent capitalism and weak trade union links with the left? What, exactly, is socialist about clinging to the coat tails of a bloody and imperialist adventure in the Middle East?

Seriously, how dare Labour claim any kind of moral high ground when they pursue ID cards, nuclear weapons, draconian internet policies, contradictory environmental policies and ever encroaching restrictions on civil liberties?

The past means nothing if the present and future looks bleak.

I'm not party political, I don't associate myself with any particular party, but as a staunch leftie I feel like I should have some kind of affinity with Labour. But how can I when they constantly pander to the interests of big business and show a lack of commitment to left principles?

And where is the bloody dissent?!

I know the grassroots and many backbenchers don't believe the New Labour hype, but why is there barely a murmur about it? Is there some kind of strange disease afflicting Labour whereby people are loyal to the party rather than the cause? As Cardiff Blogger once tweeted, you could put a red rosette on a cow and still some tweeps would vote Labour. Why has New Labour been able to continue unabated for so long? Why do people simply turn a blind eye and mutter "it'll be worse under the Tories"?

Enough!

ADDITION: To be more succinct, I feel let down by Labour. Not by New Labour - to me they're so far removed they may as well be a completely different party, they've shown their true colours and I've come to accept that now. It's the old guard that have let me down, those who disagree with the New Labour project, who share my values, but who have kept quiet and let it continue.