REV DAVID FAREY: Election promises must be acted upon

Now all the promises that have been made need to be acted upon. Inevitably the policies that will be applied will be good news for some but disaster for others.

How Brexit will be navigated, deficiencies in the NHS and education handled, and what shape and how much is spent on our armed forces is all now the business of the new government.

This is democracy; government of the people, by the people, for the people. It is not infallible.

It is a compromise. Hopefully the majority’s needs are met, but there will be a minority unhappy how things are done.

Government survives on a consensus by all that they are the best people to make decisions for the good of the majority, at least for the time being. If that consensus didn’t exist we would have anarchy.

It is like in our prisons. Several hundred people are locked up and restrained in one place obeying tight rules and regulations. They accept the authority of only a handful of prison officers that oversee them.

If the consensus didn’t exist that this is the way things are done then the prisoners would rebel and overthrow the rule of the prison officers. Prison riots are mercifully an exception.

There is an interesting contrast with religion though.

The Christian God is a totalitarian form of government where it is God’s command that goes and no other. Where people are used to expressing a democratic right over how they are governed they think they can do the same with religion.

People can scream at God as much as they like about what they want but it won’t affect God’s desire to do the best for everyone. He will oppose evil and seek the good for all. His is an eternal government.

So while we can’t argue with God’s rule, we do have to accept the results of the elections.

We have to accept whatever rules and policies our democratically elected government throws at us. But it doesn’t stop us from expressing our opinions though.

We still have a voice. Any government worth its salt will listen to what the people say, because they know that a few years down the line they will be standing for re-election.

So until God opens his judgement books at the end of all time here on earth we have to make do as best as we can, and make sure our democratic muscles are kept in trim and ready for use!