God's Country

Part Fourteen

'I think a lot of people, even Christians, are willing to be satisfied with gaining lots and lots of biblical knowledge – and many people go to Bible studies and don't realise it isn't enough to know what's right, it's applying the information and the knowledge that you have.'

Charles Stanley

Charles Buckingham locked himself away in David Harrington's study and refused to talk to anyone. Even David Harrington, who was understandably curious, because he wanted to finish his proposals before sharing them even with his host, let alone everyone else. He had a lot to get through because he was taking it all back to basics. Not just in terms of the doctrine Michael Winstanley had produced but his own political beliefs and his personal experience of the British political system, all mixed in together. He thought of the raw doctrine as the cure but before he could apply it, or elements of it, he felt that he needed to accurately define the disease. His wife had officially died of cancer, but he reckoned that it was the chemotherapy which had actually killed her, the supposed cure. Her doctors had told him then that it was often impossible to get the balance right, he remembered, hearing that word in his head again as if someone was trying to make him focus. It was all about balance.

British society was sick in so many ways. It depressed Buckingham to list them but it was also no surprise. Everyone knew that so many things were wrong but the political system did not allow anyone the time or the power to provide a cure. Instead, the two main, existing and popular political doctrines of socialism and capitalism fought for the right to tinker around the edges every five years or so. Radical change was seldom if ever proposed because to form a government each major party, either Conservatives or Labour, had to appeal to the moderate centre of the electorate in order to secure a numerical majority. The pendulum swung backwards and forwards for various reasons as dictated by circumstances, personnel or simple tedium, but neither party dared to suggest anything which might spook any floating voters. Mixed in with all the scandals and embarrassments that had tainted all politicians, the pervading atmosphere surrounding politics and politicians had resulted in a series of hung or very finely balanced parliaments. So instead of addressing issues and looking for a cure to the problems in society, the leading political figures spent most of their media time blaming their opponents rather than proposing solutions.

Part of that was because the political elite looked down on the electorate. There was a view amongst some that the voters could not understand the issues, and certainly could not be trusted to make the right decision on a number of things. For instance, Europe. Politicians of both sides were frightened to allow a referendum in case the British public voted to leave, a scenario the majority of Westminster politicians feared greatly. So they refused to explain the real situation because they thought that people would misunderstand the problems and reach the wrong conclusions. Politicians believed they knew best, but made quite sure that they never told their constituents the truth, for fear of confusing them.

Charles Buckingham believed that he had the cure. By going back to basics and ignoring the restrictions being either a Conservative or a Labour party member imposed, he could think the unthinkable and get to the root cause of any problem. The idea of applying a new broom to old problems was immediately attractive. The old ways were simply not working so something new was required. But the most important thing was how it was presented, as he was nervous about being too radical. He wanted to be different without scaring the horses as it were. He needed to work on the language and the scale. He could not afford to preach and he wanted to inspire, but he was reluctant to go too far, too fast. He was not ignoring the broad themes of the Winstanley message. But he had to translate it and make it relevant to someone who did not fear any God, let alone believe in one. He had to find that balance. He had to be demonstrably reasonable.