Who Did You Vote For? Why? (UKR)
LaserWolf
Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
UK Strutters, let us know what's up.Dan
LaserWolf
Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
Comments
it will be interesting to see how in unfolds over there.
From Palast's article:
"My friend Daniel Ellsberg once said that what's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about Americans is that it's so easy to do."
Well, if that's the case I think the problem with us Brits is that we want to know the truth, but once we do, we don't do anything about it - all is forgiven.
David Blunket (the blind fascist with a dog and a beard) is back in the cabinet after resigning last year over what, in any other situation for any other person in business, would have either been seen as serious fraud or 'insider dealing'.
In the run-up to the election one sound-bite that I heard Blair use that made me want to laugh, cry and kill the lying shit-face scum bastard all at the same time, was his claim that the Conservative Party (opposition) was using the politics of fear to manipulate the public over immigration (i.e. that all immigrants are evil, dangerous scroungers etc), which to the right-wing toss-pots that live in this country had become a major election issue. In the light of Blair's true behaviour over Iraq - that it was widely known he had used the threat of WMD and "45 minutes" as a justifiable reason to involve us in the Iraq debacle - this was the most extreme case of the pot calling the kettle black I could imagine possible, and only seemed to demonstrate his total arrogance;
the public surely don't remember anything, and surely believe whatever they're told.
The worst thing of all is that the people most responsible are untouchable. I don't just want Blair out of a job - as the legality of the invasion was wrong, and the Prime Minister lied to his government and the public, falsified facts and provided bogus evidence, then I'd like to see him prosecuted for that and for the lives lost and the financial cost to the tax-payer.
Ideally, Iid like to see Blair behind bars, sharing a cell with big-bubba - can you recommend any suitably rough prisons in the U.S.?
Oh yeah, I voted for the Liberal Democrats as they had been against the war from the start (although I know there were individuals in the Labour party who were too - Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary, gained massive respect for having the dignity to resign from his position over Iraq), they were the only party (aside from the Greens) to even mention[/b] the environment, and they want to bring back student grants (which would be too late for me, but as my education is being royally fucked up over money, then I fully endorse trying to sort the problem out for future students).
Labour and the Tories are one and the same thing, and they seem to be the parties that people interested in their own immediate gain vote for - on the election day, typical reasons given for voting Labour included "they've done well for the economy, lowered interest rates etc - my house is now worth twice what I paid for it" and that sort of thing. If I say that our culture is all about rampant materialism and living wildly beyond one's means (serious debt), I'm sure it sounds all to familiar to Strutters living Stateside. When the population is so firmly shackled by it's purse-strings, it doesn't have a fucking chance of making altruistic decisions, and unfortunately Socialism is now dead and buried here.
Bascially, we're domesticated.
Chino, Folsom or San Quinton, all in California, would be good or hard labor at Angola in Louisiana.
Utter bollocks IMHO.
In US and UK we vote with our wallets. And we've been voting for right-wing swine for 30 years.
Yeah, I guess you're right there - I've been suporting Third-World debt, the exploitation of natural resources, sweat-shops... but I don't drive a car! (does that make me better?)
The immigration thing kind of flares up and then dies away. I think it's actually more the newspapers fault. They write some scare-mongering stories about the REAL number of immigrants and feed the headlines with talk of how much they're defrauding legit tax-paying citizens. The papers also transparently throw in there lot with one party or another and then bias all of there stories accordingly... the power of the press over the minds of the voters is unfortunately strong.
twats
So in the voting both do you vote for a party, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Green? Or do you vote for a canidate Blair, Thatcher, Cook?
Does your vote for Parliment decide who the ruling party is?
Sorry, we don't know much about democracy here.
Dan
Ok, here goes (and please correct me if this is wrong/not clear):
The county is divided into districts, where we have to vote for a local candidate, that - if they win - provides a 'seat' in Parliament. The party that wins, has to get over a certain threshold of seats to win a 'majority' and subsequently a term in government. I put majority in quotes as it turns out that only around 35% of the electorate backed Labour this time around, however due to the way the votes to seats thing works out, Labour still won 356 seats compared to their closest rival - the Conservatives - who won 197 seats although they had a 32% share of the vote. I have mixed feelings about that, disappointment that we have a government that is elected on a technicality, but pleased that we avoided an uber right-wing Conservative government again (I'm old enough to remember Thatcher and the mess she made).
The key factor here is that the large urban areas (London, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire, East Midlands) went predominantly Labour, and 'middle England' (countryside, small towns, villages, Daily Mail readers etc) went Conservative. Urban areas donate more seats, so that's how Labour came out on top.
I personally voted Liberal Democrat, because of their stance on the war, immigration, increased taxation for top earners, tuition fees, axing of proposed ID cards etc etc. Luckily I live in an area where this vote wasn't wasted and helped to keep the vile racist Torys out.
You still have your vote on the streets !