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Post by frankiegth on Dec 14, 2008 22:00:39 GMT
It's a sad indictment that 8 million dullards spent cash phoning up for this inconsequential piece of schedule filler - but we can't get these same "people" out to vote in proper stuff like elections and stuff. I hate to think of the apathy for the inevitable Referendum on the Euro... Perhaps the way forward is telephone voting in political elections etc. It has not been wasted on me, the fact that people seem more than willing, for whatever reason to vote in polls that mean absolutely nothing to anyone other than a specific individual, yet, can't be ar**d to vote in a general election.
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Post by J Esaj PRA on Dec 15, 2008 18:57:05 GMT
The reason is simple. People can see their votes making a differences in these 'reality' shows, but after voting in a political election they are left with some Muppet that nobody wants who fecks things up just as much as anyone else would have.
I'll never vote again until the politicians give me something to vote for rather than against.
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Post by robotsmfc on Dec 15, 2008 21:55:50 GMT
How do you intend to deal with Muppets?
Directly elected PM? Ok, but that would probably kill what's left of our unitary system and make life difficult for any potential selectors as well as the cabinet. It would also reaffirm the fact that our Prime Ministers are becoming more and more like bona fide presidents, but more powerful and less constrained. We'd basically be electing a dictator. And how would we deal with the irregular lives of our Parliaments alongside a directly elected PM? The only option would be to keep him/her somehow tied to the lifetime of Parliament, as some kind of bizzare pantomime wife. President à l'Americain? We'd have to depose the Royal Family first.
Voting on local issues is probably a way forward if you want something to vote for but dislike the bigger picture.
I think a switch from FPTP to AMS would make a lot more people feel enfranchised anyway, as parties such as UKIP, who were 4th at the last GE but got no seats, would be guaranteed representation. We would have to maintain the constituency ties though, as otherwise local stuff like nationalists, independents and Kidderminster Health Concern would be disadvantaged. AMS would be perfect as the house would be 2/3 constituency MPs and 1/3 PR national reps.
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Post by J Esaj PRA on Dec 16, 2008 14:17:21 GMT
Erm, what?
There's nothing wrong with the system, just the tossers that inhabit it.
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Post by robotsmfc on Dec 16, 2008 19:47:04 GMT
There's something fundamentally wrong with a system where a party can come 4th and gain no seats, whereas parties with a lesser share of the vote but a high concentration of support in certain areas ride roughshod over them.
The Labour Party benefits massively from this, but the Lib Dems, UKIP and the Green Party are massive losers. FPTP might give us strong government, but it's a direct consequence of the inequities of this system that no government in the 20th Century has had a majority of the overall vote, but we've had governments with 250+ majorities of the seats.
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Post by frankiegth on Dec 16, 2008 22:05:32 GMT
I recall when the tories wearing blue rosettes (as opposed to tories with red rosettes) were in government there wasn't a single tory MP elected in Scotland yet a whole country found themselves being governed by a party with no support what-so-ever.
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Post by coops on Dec 17, 2008 10:57:27 GMT
The Labour Party benefits massively from this, but the Lib Dems, UKIP and the Green Party are massive losers. Good. Anything that keeps both hand-wringing yoghurt knitters AND pseudo-racists out of any sort of power is doing a decent job.
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Post by robotsmfc on Dec 17, 2008 20:54:29 GMT
Yeah, screw the million people that voted for them. Their votes don't need any value whatsoever.
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Post by coops on Dec 18, 2008 8:43:13 GMT
I forgot the emoticon!
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Croc
Stale bacon bap
On the Northside for a while, Insanity Bohemians Style
Posts: 189
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Post by Croc on Dec 18, 2008 19:28:50 GMT
The Labour Party benefits massively from this, but the Lib Dems, UKIP and the Green Party are massive losers. Good. Anything that keeps both hand-wringing yoghurt knitters AND pseudo-racists out of any sort of power is doing a decent job. Enough about the Lib Dems - what about UKIP and the Greens?
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Post by robotsmfc on Dec 18, 2008 20:13:22 GMT
Yeah, screw the million people that voted for them. Their votes don't need any value whatsoever. Actually 6 million Lib Dem - 22.1% of vote for 9% of seats and 860,000 between the Greens and UKIP - 3.2% of the vote and no seats.
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