Bad news and good news
First the good news - there will be a coalition government in the UK. The bad news - it will be chaired by the Cons and held up by the power-hungry dreamers.Now the bad news: when the Lib-Dems went into the election campaign the one principle it upheld for all was the vision of a change in the electoral system. They fully supported proportional representation (PR). In order that two toffee nosed public schoolboys can cling to power this principle has been severely watered down to , as we hear correct me if I'm wrong, to the Alternative Voting system. But the good old school tie linkage has prevailed to the detriment of the worker. Now wait for the other shoe to drop - the service cuts to lower income families and the tax breaks to the rich.
The lessons to be learnt here is that firstly the idea of a coalition government (do you hear that Libs and NewDems) is politically acceptable. That must have Harper shaking in his boots just to think about the legitimacy of that. The other is that politics really does make strange bedfellows - the image at the top says it all.
6 comments:
Your negative review of the proposed UK Lib-Con coalition is not supported by the media.
For instance the BBC says:
"What will be their key priorities?
They have said their top priority is the economy and cutting Britain's record budget deficit. "Fairer" taxation is another Lib Dem priority, with some agreement likely on a move towards Lib Dem plans to raise the point at which people start paying tax to £10,000. Education is seen as crucial too. Both parties want similar-sounding pupils' premiums and further schools reforms. Cleaning up politics is also near the top of the agenda and there are a range of measures from fixed term Parliaments, banning non-dom peers, curbs on lobbyists and recalling MPs that both parties agree on. Finally, and most importantly for the Lib Dems, electoral reform. There will be a referendum on scrapping Britain's first-past-the-post voting system in favour of the Alternative Vote method before the next general election, under Tory proposals - even though the Conservatives are likely to campaign for against any voting change."
It is important to understand that neither Labour nor the Conservatives would willingly agree to full Proportional Representation(PR) as they have to much to lose. A referendum on alternative voting is all the LIb Dem could achieve without themselves having a majority. At least the Lib Dem can counter some of the more extreme right wing positions of the Tories.
Read this and think that if you were a LIB-DEM wouldn't you feel betrayed and conned by a leader desperate to get power at any cost, even if it means leaving the mebership behind.
I certainly wouldn't vote for anybody so maladroit they somehow managed to get toffee all over their noses. I mean, how the hell do you do that anyway? Is it a British thing or what?
Jon Stewart did a great bit on the Brit election on his Monday night Daily Show. With "Senior British Person" John Oliver on hand to explain the finer points, we now know that if they couldn't reach a deal, the Queen would pick the next PM from amongst her pack of Corgi dogs.
Might be the best way to go.
Ben:
You ask if a Lib-Dem would feel betrayed ? I was a Liberal 45 years ago when I was in the UK ( the Lim-Dems had not been invented then) and I did read the Guardian.
The purpose of the Liberals and the Lib-Dems is not purely to pursue the goal of PR. Their purpose is to get their ideas adopted by the government of the day. ( PR would clearly make this easier). By being members of a coalition government they can preserve the social fabric by getting some of their ideas implemented and by influencing government policy from within. This seems like a good deal to me.
You talk of "betrayal". I might give you a lottery ticket and tell you that 7 numbers would win you $20 million. If you then got 5 numbers and only received $2,000 would you feel betrayed? Probably not. Well, the Lib-Dems did not get all 7 numbers in the latest election, so they are doing the best with what they did get.
Must interesting to say the least . Like Cobourg and Port Hope ?
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