Romantic democrat ...

I've been moved today to read the tributes to the wonderful Michael Foot who died aged 96. He was one of my father's political inspirations - Foot was a decade older and my dear dad has been canvassing a higher authority for nearly five years. I particularly liked Neil Kinnock's piece called romantic democrat and this by Mark Seddon who used to be in the same ward Labour party as me several decades ago. That was where I went canvassing, became politically active, where I was when we lost the terrible 1983 election and where I met Dr B ...
As I ponder Michael Foot's and my father's political legacy I feel convinced that across democratic countries we need to reawaken a falling in love with political ideas, political debate and the building up of democracy itself. Do we actually believe that we deserve, do we even want, politicians of integrity and conviction any more? What will it take to make our cultures fall in love with vibrant democracy and civil society? But perhaps we don't really want intelligent debate and informed discussion, we would rather develop a culture of ridicule and blame.
Democracy is a poetic and practical ideal, it deserves feisty, intelligent proponents. Let's hope that the romance of politics and political ideas will not die with foot's generation.