Owen Jones wrote an article called ‘Questions all Jeremy Corbyn supporters need to answer’ on Medium. This is my response.
I am not a ‘Jeremy Corbyn supporter’. I may sometimes support the same ideas as Jeremy Corbyn but not all of them. I am not ‘of the Left’. I would defend Owen Jones right to hold different views to his party leader (though posibly not “to the death”), and to express them in a non-destructive way. I am over 50. I may be atypical.
I like Jeremy Corbyn because seems a decent bloke. All his enemies admit that he is. In a world of spin and misdirection by politicians and the media who are supposed to hold them to account on our behalf, that’s his greatest strength. “But he’s not a leader”, they say. Corbyn’s been described as a signpost rather than a weather-vane. He knows what he thinks and so do we. That’s his appeal to those outside the Westminster bubble, to those of us who have taken the trouble to fight through the media smoke screen. We are really sick of being lied to and the EU referendum feels like the final straw that broke unrepresentative democracy for many.
Is a clear political message important? #Leave won with a very clear pack of lies. Is that what we want more of? I think the next General Election will be won by whoever the public trust. I think the rebel MPs may have ensured that it won’t be a Labour leader but I am 100% sure that it won’t be Owen Smith because he’s a flag. He follows the wind AND he flaps!
This entry on a current leadership style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership demonstates that Corbyn is both ahead of the political game and very far behind it:
It contains the following passage from the Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu written, between 570 BCE and 490 BCE:
The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware.
Next comes one whom they love and praise.
Next comes one whom they fear.
Next comes one whom they despise and defy.When you are lacking in faith,
Others will be unfaithful to you.The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words.
When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, All the people say, ‘We ourselves have achieved it!’
On The Outside 