George has been listening to my inner voice again and has written down what it is whispering with regard to UK politics. I can't agree with him more, except on the point of the corruption of UK politics. Surely the evidence he cites indicates otherwise?
Anyway; introduce state funding of political parties, compulsory voting and the single transferable vote.
Showing posts with label compulsory voting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compulsory voting. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Britain's pseudo-democracy stolen by the Tories again
The dirty fucking tories seem to have come out as winners of the elections. The curse of the first-past-the-post system has condemned many excellent councils to change hands, instantly reversing any gains made in levels of service. Winston Churchill once said: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." If you accept this, as the vast majority of civilised individuals do then you cannot argue against making that political system as fair and representative as possible. FPTP does not provide anywhere close to that. The Electoral Reform Society will tell you why and what we should use instead.
On a similar subject, a passage from the first link really made my blood boil:
"research from professors John Curtice and Pippa Norris shows that those with the least political knowledge are far more likely to vote under proportional systems, up from 38% in first-past-the post systems to 54%."
I would like to know why it is a good thing for those with the least political knowledge to vote? Why should we be bothered that the Sun readers of the country do not vote? Does no-one comprehend the danger of letting people vote who don't vote rationally? This is a recipe for the sort of reactionary politics that runs much of the US system and look where its got them. I'm not saying that people should be prohibited from voting, quite the opposite- I believe strongly that democracy requires every single person to register their political stance be it Monster Raving Loony, BNP (cnuts) or a simple abstention. The obligation to vote would require that people take an interest and would encourage engagement with the political system.
On a similar subject, a passage from the first link really made my blood boil:
"research from professors John Curtice and Pippa Norris shows that those with the least political knowledge are far more likely to vote under proportional systems, up from 38% in first-past-the post systems to 54%."
I would like to know why it is a good thing for those with the least political knowledge to vote? Why should we be bothered that the Sun readers of the country do not vote? Does no-one comprehend the danger of letting people vote who don't vote rationally? This is a recipe for the sort of reactionary politics that runs much of the US system and look where its got them. I'm not saying that people should be prohibited from voting, quite the opposite- I believe strongly that democracy requires every single person to register their political stance be it Monster Raving Loony, BNP (cnuts) or a simple abstention. The obligation to vote would require that people take an interest and would encourage engagement with the political system.
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