Yes alanabit, I remember the phrase 'Power to the People' was hijacked by Maggie 'No Such Thing As Society' Thatcher in the 80's. By this she was referring to the fact that she felt that the Nationalised (dirty word) Companies should be sold off and then the little person could buy shares and have some control; but all the people already owned such companies already and had some kind of control, albeit it not an effective one. So we (or those who believed in this rubbish) bought a couple of shares in British Gas and the like which were eventually bought by the big boys; control totally lost.
It's now one of those meaningless phrase the the politicians love, rather like 'choice', 'freedom','democracy', 'fairness' etc.
The thin end of the wedge is something the people don't spot: it's now £6 to park in a hospital car park, surely a totally immoral thing for the sick and their visitors. But it crept in and we accept it and even think it's right. It would be so easy to reverse but we just take it. No union spirit anymore.