I have been thinking about "Big Society" for a while. Cynically, I could just say it was already happening out there under any one of fifty names it has had recently, but what has struck me recently is the lack of respect we have for each other across our current civic society. Big Society is surely about working together, but while the rhetoric of the benefits cheat, overpaid public sector worker, greedy banker, etc are the staple of our conversations how can we build the level of understanding and trust that we need to work together?
It seems to me we have to
1. Accept that we all pay tax for the common good - it's not our own personal piggy bank.
2. Most people are basically honest and decent and want a better society and local community.
3. We all need to treat each other with some respect.
It is easy to slip into stereotypes, the media do it all the time and often promote that kind of thought, but communities that are working well together are doing so because they have built trust and common purpose. I don't think we have a common purpose as a wider civic society in this country. I think we all exisit in out tribes or ghettos ... yummy mummies, baby boomers, hoodies. If the Government are serious about "Big Society", then they are going to have to lead the way with a more broad minded approach to the many and varied aspirations we all have and unite us around a theme of civic respect and pride.
