Just what is democracy?
We're constantly having democracy pushed down our throats as the prime reason for the supremacy of 'Western Civilisation'. It's so good we have to 'export' it, by force if necessary - a real contradiction in terms - yet when the voters in another country make their choice we condemn the outcome.
The idea of democracy is great, but does it really work? We think we can choose our government and make our voices heard, but unless you live in a marginal seat your vote doesn't count at all. The candidates who come canvassing for your vote aren't interested in your opinions, they are only interested in getting elected along with enough of their party to drive through their agenda. We can't pick and choose which bits we like and don't like - we have to take the whole package, so the choice of who to vote for comes down to balancing out who is offering the best combination of policies that you agree with against the policies that you don't support. Your role in government starts and ends with voting for the candidate who you think represents the party who will do the least damage to the country. Many people in this country don't even go that far. There are so many who will blindly vote Labour 'because I always have and so did my parents and my grandparents before them and to vote any other way would be betraying my heritage and principles...' - even though the Labour Party of today is nothing like the party of the 1940's and 50's and more Tory than the Tory Party.
Party politics mean that your MP isn't interested in what the voters really want - they have to tow the party line. There are so few MPs with the integrity to stand up for their constituents and really put their interests before party loyalty. In a true democracy voters should have the chance to vote on all bills put before Parliament. In a true democracy the government should be made up by a proportion of each party in the proportion of the votes they got and not just the party winning the most seats.
We currently have a total fiasco going on in Westminster - one revelation after another, so many that they are coming in bunches now. It's been a catalogue of disasters, incompetence, lies, spin, mis-management, cover-ups and outright hypocrisy. It's not just recently either - it's been going on from the early days back in 1997 - the Formula One loan, Peter Mandelson, Iraq dossier, Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett, the Hutton enquiry, loans for peerages, (mis)use of the Queens Flight, alleged Italian bribes, David Blunkett, WMD, there's so many I can't remember them all.
Almost everything that they accused the Torys of is happening in this government along with a whole lot of new stuff. It seems that the longer a party is in power the worse they become. With the recent anniversary of the Profumo scandal in the 60's it really shows the difference between then and now. Profumo resigned for lying to Parliament. He didn't come back a few months later as a 'Golden Boy'. He actually did something for the good of others by working for a charity to recompense for what he had done. Contrast that with Charles Clarke, Tessa Jowell, Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett, Tony Blair and heaven knows who else and how they just wriggle out of responsibility and even make money out of resigning before bouncing back again!
In a true democracy we the public would have the right not only to vote a party in, but also to vote it out in situations like this. We shouldn't have to wait for the Prime Minister and his advisors to choose the best date that suits them for an election - we should have the power to say 'enough is enough - you're not fit to run this country - it's time to go'. For those terms that run their course the election date should be predetermined - four years exactly. No more waiting to get the best popularity ratings before deciding when to call an election - just a statutory end of term date. It is one area where I think that the USA has got it right. I would like to see the maximum number of terms that a party can be in control set at two to avoid the loss of impetus that happens after being in power for so long - it happened with the previous Tory government. Although I'm not a Labour supporter, it was good to see things happening again when Labour first got in, even though I didn't always agree with what they did.
I'm not completely biased against Labour - I'm also happy to attack the Torys and any others - are there any? - whenever I think they are wrong or incompetent or for any other justifiable reason.
The idea of democracy is great, but does it really work? We think we can choose our government and make our voices heard, but unless you live in a marginal seat your vote doesn't count at all. The candidates who come canvassing for your vote aren't interested in your opinions, they are only interested in getting elected along with enough of their party to drive through their agenda. We can't pick and choose which bits we like and don't like - we have to take the whole package, so the choice of who to vote for comes down to balancing out who is offering the best combination of policies that you agree with against the policies that you don't support. Your role in government starts and ends with voting for the candidate who you think represents the party who will do the least damage to the country. Many people in this country don't even go that far. There are so many who will blindly vote Labour 'because I always have and so did my parents and my grandparents before them and to vote any other way would be betraying my heritage and principles...' - even though the Labour Party of today is nothing like the party of the 1940's and 50's and more Tory than the Tory Party.
Party politics mean that your MP isn't interested in what the voters really want - they have to tow the party line. There are so few MPs with the integrity to stand up for their constituents and really put their interests before party loyalty. In a true democracy voters should have the chance to vote on all bills put before Parliament. In a true democracy the government should be made up by a proportion of each party in the proportion of the votes they got and not just the party winning the most seats.
We currently have a total fiasco going on in Westminster - one revelation after another, so many that they are coming in bunches now. It's been a catalogue of disasters, incompetence, lies, spin, mis-management, cover-ups and outright hypocrisy. It's not just recently either - it's been going on from the early days back in 1997 - the Formula One loan, Peter Mandelson, Iraq dossier, Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett, the Hutton enquiry, loans for peerages, (mis)use of the Queens Flight, alleged Italian bribes, David Blunkett, WMD, there's so many I can't remember them all.
Almost everything that they accused the Torys of is happening in this government along with a whole lot of new stuff. It seems that the longer a party is in power the worse they become. With the recent anniversary of the Profumo scandal in the 60's it really shows the difference between then and now. Profumo resigned for lying to Parliament. He didn't come back a few months later as a 'Golden Boy'. He actually did something for the good of others by working for a charity to recompense for what he had done. Contrast that with Charles Clarke, Tessa Jowell, Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett, Tony Blair and heaven knows who else and how they just wriggle out of responsibility and even make money out of resigning before bouncing back again!
In a true democracy we the public would have the right not only to vote a party in, but also to vote it out in situations like this. We shouldn't have to wait for the Prime Minister and his advisors to choose the best date that suits them for an election - we should have the power to say 'enough is enough - you're not fit to run this country - it's time to go'. For those terms that run their course the election date should be predetermined - four years exactly. No more waiting to get the best popularity ratings before deciding when to call an election - just a statutory end of term date. It is one area where I think that the USA has got it right. I would like to see the maximum number of terms that a party can be in control set at two to avoid the loss of impetus that happens after being in power for so long - it happened with the previous Tory government. Although I'm not a Labour supporter, it was good to see things happening again when Labour first got in, even though I didn't always agree with what they did.
I'm not completely biased against Labour - I'm also happy to attack the Torys and any others - are there any? - whenever I think they are wrong or incompetent or for any other justifiable reason.
posted by bank-robbed | 13:07
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