A modest proposal

[andrewducker]

The Conservatives believe that a hung parliament would be bad for Britain.

There's a simple solution to that.

If they removed themselves from the race then the chances of the result not being clear-cut would drop to near-zero.

Comments

[marrog.livejournal.com]

It's completely loathsome the way the Conservatives and right-wing media are scaremongering this. Particularly given that they are actually having the cheek to advise tactical voting to avoid it happening when the reason people want to see a hung parliament is to see electoral reform and with a different electoral system this, er, wouldn't happen.

The base fact that no one seems to be saying (and I've been watching a lot of news programmes) is that in popular terms we are now a three-party country, and FPTP bipartianism doesn't work for a three party country. Surely this is childsplay to understand? I can only assume that, like the Media Giants whose pockets the Big Two reside, they've decided to stick their heads in the sand and try to stop the tide from coming in.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the Big Two parties have an awful lot to gain by not understanding that this is a three party country, and by making sure that as few people as possible believe it, so it's not unsurprising that they don't seem to understand it or be making scrupulous efforts to educate the wider public along those lines.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

To be fair, that's not fair at all.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Fair no, but it's not about being fair, it's a competition.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

You don't think a competition should be fair?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

That depends on the definition of "fair". All competitions have rules, but usually the boundary of those rules is different to what is considered "fair".

Ideally, I would like everyone who votes to consider the options and make an informed choice, but that is sadly far from the reality of the situation. The Tories are simply seizing a means to gain more votes. What they are doing is within the rules of the contest, but not what I would call fair.

[matgb]

Personally, I've always thought the "fair votes" demand wouldn't play well with voters, didn't think people wanted fairness for parties, etc.

Appears from polling evidence I was very very wrong.

However, the Westminster system as currently applied to Westminster isn'y fair; it's the main reason I got involved to try and change it.

The Big Two benefit from the unfairness (Labour created the current system and have benefitted substantially overall), ergo they want to play that up.

IF you think that's wrong, y'know, campaigning against it is a good plan.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'm not an active campaigner, but I'm on the lists for the 38 Degrees and Vote For A Change campaign sites, and I do sign all the petitions and write all the letters. I also make a point of loudly decrying right-wing myths when with friends on the bus.

I'm not exactly a mover or shaker but I'm no layabout either. We do what we can.

[matgb]

Heh, let me rephrae that for you ;-)
I'm not an active campaigner, but ... I do [actively campaign]

Which, y'know, suits me. I only work part time partially in order to have more time for active campaigning, but that's not possible for most, etc.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I do wish I had the time to do more right now - it'd be nice to know I did everything I could whatever happens.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Fair cop.