Election 2010 - Con/Lib Government

[Sheikah]

Only if you know NOTHING about politics....or truly don't give a shit about 'society'. But surely the right of the right still believes in taxes

Yep, which is my point. It isn't down to the (mostly) ignorant public. And neither should some other things, since we'd constantly avoid them.

[Raining_again]

What we want ain't always what's best for us!

 

I'd love to pay no tax at all, but we'd have to pay privately for everything! (and that would be me royally screwed)

[Emasher]

I agree that its unfair for the children to have no say in it, and that someone needs to speak for them. The problem is, you simply cannot enforce laws forcing people to do this. People who don't want to, or see no reason to go through all the hassle simply will ignore the law and get pregnant on their own anyway. You can't stop them. The real solution is to strongly encourage people to get the screening, and take action if they have to. If it isn't already, this sort of treatment for the purpose of eliminating diseases only should be made free. And they could have tons of marketing campaigns showing people who ended up with horrible diseases, and informing people through this campaign that if they don't get the screening, its possible for their children to end up with these diseases, which are fully preventable. The key is really to show people how awful the diseases are, and how preventable they are though.

 

A democracy is a country that's governed by the people. Because it wouldn't be feasible to have everyone get together to make new laws, we elect representatives to do it for us. The key is they're supposed to represent us, and theoretically by the representative spending time in their riding when parliament isn't in session, they're supposed to get an idea for what the people want and make decisions that are in the best interest of the people in their riding. In a true democracy (at least in the way the British system works) we shouldn't really have political parties, but everyone should run as an independent. Sadly, most MPs don't even take the time to get to know what the people in their riding want, or need. They bypass this by running on a platform and just saying "Everyone who agrees with my party should vote for me". The problem with this is that first of all, the ignorant masses aren't capable of finding out which candidate would be the best for them, and so we end up with the parties in power that spend the most money on propaganda. Because of this we end up being limited to having only 2 or 3 parties that are able to be in power, and so people who have political beliefs different from these 2 or 3 parties end up not having any chance of the parties who have their beliefs and interests, getting in to power. Even though a large portion of the ignorant masses have similar political beliefs to them, they just aren't capable of finding out who they should be voting for, and end up complaining when the government doesn't do anything for them.

 

TL;DR: Read the full text.

[McPhee]

Political compass test

 

Colour me a communist! Never really thought that would happen.

Edited April 30, 2010 by McPhee

[The fish]

What are people's opinions here on the EU and our (the UK's) membership? I ask as one of the guys I was playing the election debate drinking game with last night is planning on voting UKIP, and I can't for the life of me see why being a member of the world's largest economy (even with Greece being fucked as it is) is a bad thing.

 

Colour me a communist! Never really thought that would happen.

 

Lol, Commie!

 

=P

[Sheikah]

I agree that its unfair for the children to have no say in it, and that someone needs to speak for them. The problem is, you simply cannot enforce laws forcing people to do this.

But again, you can, and they often have done. A democracy doesn't mean the public gets to veto every single law...if such was the case, society would be screwed. Sometimes, as is the case with the smoking ban, laws that benefit people greatly (despite the fact that a huge proportion of people didn't want it, or at least in certain regions the opposition would have bested support) can be implemented by listening to healthcare professionals and projected statistics.

 

Which is very, very wise. It's also like how abortions are illegal past a certain timepoint; again, protecting the unborn.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Sheikah

[Serebii]

This says it all

 

[MoogleViper]

He's bigger on the inside that the outside?

[Serebii]

Thing is, do people know Nick Clegg's policies or are they just hypnotised into loving him this election? :P

[MoogleViper]

Thing is, do people know Nick Clegg's policies or are they just hypnotised into loving him this election? :P

 

I've only seen the first election. (Don't have a TV.)

 

I don't particularly love Nick Clegg. Vince Cable on the other hand...

[Serebii]

Did Nick Clegg exist before 18 months ago? :p

 

Ah Doctor Who references, they never get old :p

[Cube]

OMG! Clegg is using secret mind-altering signals sent through Facebook to get people to vote for him.

[Will]

Just finished watching the debate, I think it's pretty safe to say Gordon should start packing up his belongings ready for a house move.

 

I'm really not sure which way to go with my vote, as expected I thought Cameron came over much better in this final economic debate than he had done previously. I think I'm going to have to look into the policies of Lib Dems and Conservatives a bit more before I make my mind up once and for all.

[Nicktendo]

I think out of the three, Nick Clegg has the best policies;

 

His policy for illegal immigration (a much bigger socio-economic problem than legal immigration) is sensible as it will disrupt well established networks by offering amnesty to some who can work in co-operation with the police to weed out the real offenders and end mass illegal immigration. Labour and Conservatives offer nothing on illegal immigrants because they simply don't know how to find them. Cameron proved he had no idea when he wouldn't answer yes or no to "does the Tory's plans for a budget cap matter when 80% of all immigration is from the EU, which is uncappable." Much to my sheeeer ANGER he refused (again) to answer a simple question. Lib Dems also want to regionalise immigration to stop large groups of immigrants going to one place, and to help direct the flow of jobs where immigrant labour is needed.

 

On trident, they don't support (what I see as wasting) spending £100m on restoring cold-war Nuclear deterrents, instead wanting to find better, cheaper and more modern alternatives.

 

They are by far the most 'green' of the big three and are much more committed to reducing carbon emissions and creating a sustainable Britain (as a geography student, I am concerned about climate change :P ) They support (non-nuclear) renewable energy and will invest in this area heavily and are willing to help Britain's poorest fight against rising 'fuel poverty' by subsiding home efficiency schemes.

 

They want to re-organise the tax system (god bless 'Cable so able' and his PhD in economics ) to create a much fairer system where no-one will pay tax on the first £10,000 of their income and to counter this they will shift the majority of this burden to the very rich and close offshore tax loopholes (about bloody time!). I think they said anyone earning under £50,000 would be better off under the Lib Dems which is probably a good 3/4 of the population...

 

Following on from this they want to abolish council tax and create a local income tax which will judge how much you pay based on your household income, again this shifts the heavier burden to the rich, but the tax cuts in other areas should mean that people earning under £50k still pay less overall.

 

They will also scrap heath targets, giving local people more control over health boards. The sack you MP scheme, where if they prove themselves to be corrupt, lazy or utterly useless you can give them the boot. They want to (slowly) scrap tuition fees, starting by removing them for final year students. They also want to cut class sizes and get more one-to-one time with students and teachers.

 

So while all of this (to me at least) seems good, they, just like the other two parties. Are pussy footing around spending cuts. It's no secret that public services would likely suffer under any government but in this sense, I think Labour are the most committed to this sector. I've read numerous reports saying Clegg will cut deeper than Thatcher which I'm extremely wary of.

 

Just like the other three they are big proponents of the free-market economy, something which I feel is really starting to have a detrimental effect on society. They support integration in Europe (which is a haven of neo-liberal, free-market individuals) even though they protest they will 'shake it up' and change it for the better, I'm still very sceptical. Especially after the mess Greece has ended up in, that country is going to be hit very, very hard by economic reforms in the next 12 months and don't be surprised if all hell breaks loose.

 

The crux of it though comes down to personal choice, on the one hand, they have the power to shake things up a bit, a hung-parliament would hopefully result in reform leading to proportional representation (fairer) style of democracy in the UK and put and end to this nonsense of "vote x to keep y out." I would definitely rather have Vince Cable PhD in Economics in charge of.. *ahem* The ECONOMY as opposed to Darling, who hasn't got a clue or that Grade A Cuntbag George Osbourne.

 

In the end though it all comes down to personal choice. My opinion is Lib Dems won't do enough to tackle the problems that got the country in such a mess, the whole neo-liberal economic system and with this regard, they are just another 4 more years of "the same, but slightly different." which is why I'm saying screw you all, I'm voting Green. Even if it is a waste.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Nicktendo

[Cube]

They support (non-nuclear) renewable energy and will invest in this area heavily.

 

This is the only bit I have a problem with. Wind Farms are crap. Money is better spend on Harnessing THE POWER OF THE MOON! (i.e. tidal).

[The fish]

or that Grade A Cuntbag George Osbourne.

 

I think you'll find his actual name is "that Grade A Cuntbag Gideon Osbourne...

 

Oh, and nice to see a fellow Clegg/Cable supporter, and I respect your vote for Green (now they've dropped their backwards stem cell research policy) - too many bleedin' UKIP supporters here at Uni.

 

Talking of UKIP, check out their science policies.

[Cube]

Wait...so they're stopping all grants on research into global warming so they can pay people to research global warming?

[Serebii]

Wait...so they're stopping all grants on research into global warming so they can pay people to research global warming?

It's not like they weren't paying researchers to stuff the reuslts to actually have it seem like global warming existed...oh hang on :p

[Cube]

It's 100% certain that global warming exists. The last few million years prove it.

 

The big global warming debate is about deciding if we are making it happen a teeny weeny bit faster.

[Will]

This is the only bit I have a problem with. Wind Farms are crap. Money is better spend on Harnessing THE POWER OF THE MOON! (i.e. tidal).

 

I still don't really get why we don't put much more emphasis on Nuclear power, it would solve most of our energy issues.

 

I think if I was confident the lib dems could deliver what they were promising then they'd almost certainly have my vote. I'm just not sure in practice their policies will work as they intend. That said I think we need a big shake up of how things are run, if only to change the mindset of the big two, and thats something I think a more powerful liberal party can achieve. I reckon I'm 75% on going with them, have to see what happens in the coming week.

[Cube]

I believe it's the issue of where to put the radioactive waste. I think that Nuclear Fusion would be much better than Nuclear Fission if we can ever manage to pull it off ourselves.

[gaggle64]

Best article on the election debates yet -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/apr/29/leaders-debate-naked-politician

With all this vital fluid slopping around, for Brown to hang onto the Number 10 alpha sleeping site he must appear as though he too is a fertile breeder.

I'll leave that image to sink in.

[Serebii]

It's 100% certain that global warming exists. The last few million years prove it.

 

The big global warming debate is about deciding if we are making it happen a teeny weeny bit faster.

What people, scientists etc. seem to keep forgetting to do is factor in the sun. Just a slight change in the sun's temperature would cause drastic changes

[MoogleViper]

What people, scientists etc. seem to keep forgetting to do is factor in the sun. Just a slight change in the sun's temperature would cause drastic changes

 

Shit man you're right. Why don't you ring up those top scientists who have been studying it most of their life and tell them of their mistake. The world will thank you for it.

[Serebii]

Shit man you're right. Why don't you ring up those top scientists who have been studying it most of their life and tell them of their mistake. The world will thank you for it.

Do I sense some sarcasm? :p