It's happening already. In fact, it started happening about a week or so ago; I'm losing interest in the upcoming UK general election. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna vote, but I'm already tired of the peurile excuse for politics that seems to be the order of the day. Name-calling, empty rhetoric, outright lies, indecipherable management speak, and small-minded focus on selfish issues seem to be the arsenal of choice for our politicians.
That's also why I'm probably gonna vote green. Out of all the parties with candidates here in England, they seem to be the only ones actually possibly seriously giving any thought to much further in the future than the next general election. And I was as suprised as anyone to find, on reading their manifesto, that whilst they do have a "green" slant, they are about as far from a single-issue party as the "big three". In fact, the one thing I believe may have helped their party political broadcast (which by dint of luck I saw earlier this evening) would be to mention that the environment is the world we live in, and everything we do affects it, so maybe it's time we started taking a little more care in what we do. Of course, there'll always be people that value money above the environment, or that have some religious-based reasoning that leads them to think humans are somehow meant to do whatever the fuck we please.
But I'm not one of them, and to try and start the argument over greenhouse gases and climate change is incredibly short-sighted. Let's just pretend, for the sake of less arguments, that climate change and greenhouse gases are non-existent. That still leaves the issues of widespread pollution, which is damaging even if "only" locally, deforestation - in particular in central and south america, and also Borneo, where in recent years several entirely new species have been discovered - and poaching, which is helping a great deal in pushing numerous endangered species ever closer to extinction. There are species in existence today with fewer than 100 breeding pairs. Not through natural selection or acts of God (or other deities), but through the work of humans.
Of course, the one of these issues that you and I, average people, can have a pretty much immediate effect on is pollution. If you live in England, you may well have seen those ads about conserving energy, the "One person..." ones. if you find yourself slipping into that "But I am just one person, I can't change anything" mindset, it's worth remembering that as one person among a group of people working together, you actually can make a difference.
I'm not kidding myself here, I'm well aware there're plenty of people who have always voted labour will vote labour this time, and will always vote labour until the day they die. Ditto for the conservatives, and yeah, even the liberal democrats. These same people would probably swear black and blue that the people they vote for care about them, just because some of their views happen to coincide. It's laughable really, when you think about it. For example, you wouldn't pick some random customer of the same bank you use, and say "Wow, this guy's my best mate, he must be, he uses the same bank as me...". At least if I vote greens, I can say "Well, they may ultimately have the same selfish aims, but at least in caring about the environment they are, indirectly, caring about everyone"
They might turn out to be as bad as all the rest, if they actually got into power, but that's a whole other issue, that could be tackled "if and when" as they say.
You might also find Channel 4's Factcheck section interesting. Though a commercial concern as opposed to the public nature of the BBC, they seem to manage to be pretty fair and balanced. And for those of you with Sky, I don't mean a Fox News "fair and balanced", I mean a real "fair and balanced".
Find C4's Factcheck here complete with previous weeks' fact checks archived for your reading pleasure