Chat & Social > The Bar - General Chat

If I was an MP

<< < (3/7) > >>

V8MoneyPit:
We had a UKIP leaflet through the door yesterday. Now, in the past I would have dismissed them as an extremist minority party. But I read the leaflet and found myself thinking about it rather than just binning it  :shock:

Have the major parties really got so bad that I consider UKIP as a possibilty??? Scary, if you ask me!

SteveGoodz:

--- Quote from: Lyndsey731 on May 13, 2009, 11:37:52 ---Steve/Frank
I don't think it's as black and white as that (whilst I don't disagree with the accuracy of your comment) People do vote for a Prime Minister although be it indirectly. Whilst I accept that this is a personal view I wouldn't vote for the local candidate if his views were similar to mine but differed from the PM's, because at the end of the day all he/she does is what they are told from the top, the PM has the final say on policy. I think people vote for the person as much as the policy and my point was simply that nobody voted for a Labour Party with Gordon Brown at the Helm.
--- End quote ---

Lyndsey, you're right, of course. What I (and Frank) were saying is that the ideal of the voting system in the UK is not about personalities. Of course what happens in reality is that people vote for the party of the person that they want to see as PM. This is a fault of society in that (generally) politics isn't taught to our children either at home or in school, so when young people get to vote for the first time they are likely to follow their parents' lead ... if they vote at all.

On a personal note I, like Frank, would like to see voting made compulsary and would even add to that failing to vote should curtail your eligability to receive social benefits and certain priveledges of citizenship (e.g passport and driving license) on the basis that if you can't be bothered to take an active part in society you don't deserve to benefit from that society. I'll just get my flack jacket and helmet  :D

Lyndsey731:
I think you might need them Steve!! :lol:

In some ways I agree with that principal, don't moan or expect if you don't participate, but I guess that kind of goes against the democratic way of freedom of choice, choice of party or choice to abstain, though not voting does seem such a waste of privilege.

denviks:
so why make people pick someone they dont want to see in power.... thats what compulsory voting would do surely??

me... i WILL NOT vote for any of these mupets. they all lie and cheat their way in to power. they then live off the normal guy in the streets hard work and toil and make out that they are the ones hard done by!

if there was one candidate that was worth voting for then i would. but you wont see me out there moaning as i couldnt give a rats you know what who is in power....they are all jokes  :( :(

Ridgeback:
Its one thing saying you must vote but what do they all do to get younger people to vote.

Many of my friends are under 30 and don't bother because they don't understand the system or what each party stands for.
When I was at school they never covered any of this(not sure if they do now)

Each Party spend to long putting each other down rather then highlighting what they will do.
The lady next door to me (she is about 70) has read someting that the BNP put through the door, She now wants to vote for them because she does not understand all the other things they stand for. She is going on a few selected issues they highlighted. My younger brother is 19 and his mates also think the BNP are OK because they mention UK jobs for UK people.
They have both picked up on one very small part of what the party stands for and decided to vote for them!!!!

This can be said of every party that wants votes. They will list a limited number of issues in the hope you will vote for them. If your not very up on each party's other polices, then you could be voting for a party that you might not fully understand.

I think its this problem and lack of trust that holds many people back from voting

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page