spartan
28th February 2008, 23:54
I was thinking about this issue the other day when i was reminded about Thatcher's destruction of the traditional nationalised industries in Britain through privatisation and the moving of jobs abroad (Because of cheaper labour).
Now northern England, Scotland and Wales were always strongholds of the Labour party (By "Labour party" i mean the old Labour party which was dominated by centre-left politicians, not the neo-Liberal Thatcherite Conservative clone that Blair made it into) and the majority, if not all, northern English, Scottish and Welsh constituencies went to Labour MP's.
Now the Conservative's (Who have the wealthier regions of southern England as their traditional stronghold) under Margaret Thatcher, and later John Major, were in power from 1979 to 1997, and it was during this time that they destroyed all the old nationalised industires through their privatisation and neo-Liberal policies concerning the economy.
Now the places most effected by this were northern England, Scotland and Wales who all relied on these industries as the backbone of their economies and worker's way of life.
And yet all these regions were controlled by Labour who were against what the Conservatives were doing, but were powerless to stop it due to the repressive first past the post voting system that the UK has, which doesnt truely reflect the majority of peoples wishes, and makes a party, in control of certain regions, powerless to stop a centralised government intent on implementing its policies no matter what the local people think.
Now if it wasnt for this unfair voting system it is unlikely that the Tories would have had the majority of MP's in Parliament that it needed to help carry through their policies when it came to a Parliamentary vote, which would have made it next to impossible for Thatcher to implement her fucked up policies that destroyed the traditional British economy.
The fact is what happened in the 80's and early 90's is a perfect example of how Representative Democracy with a plurality voting system can be completely bypassed when the party, with the majority of MP's in Parliament, want to implement something against the majority of people of a certain region's wishes.
I mean how the hell could the Tories get a majority of MP's in Parliament when they were only dominant in such a small region of the country like southern England?
Why the hell does such a small region like southern England return lots of MP's when compared with the rest of Britain? (Which when combined has a population and territory about 3 times bigger than southern England).
For a representative Democracy to work there must be a fair and equal distribution of constituencies based on population levels (i.e. areas with a higher population would have more constituencies and return more representatives, based on the fact that there are more people to represent, then areas with a lower population).
What happened in the 80's just shows some of the ultimate flaws of Representative Democracy and its false promise to protect people from an unchecked party with a majority of MP's.
Anyway what are your thoughts on voting systems and which would be the fairest in a Democratic/Communist society?
The Liberal Democrats advocate the proportional representation voting system because, even when they get lots of votes in specific areas, the first past the post voting system doesnt transform these votes into lots of seats at a national level.
Now northern England, Scotland and Wales were always strongholds of the Labour party (By "Labour party" i mean the old Labour party which was dominated by centre-left politicians, not the neo-Liberal Thatcherite Conservative clone that Blair made it into) and the majority, if not all, northern English, Scottish and Welsh constituencies went to Labour MP's.
Now the Conservative's (Who have the wealthier regions of southern England as their traditional stronghold) under Margaret Thatcher, and later John Major, were in power from 1979 to 1997, and it was during this time that they destroyed all the old nationalised industires through their privatisation and neo-Liberal policies concerning the economy.
Now the places most effected by this were northern England, Scotland and Wales who all relied on these industries as the backbone of their economies and worker's way of life.
And yet all these regions were controlled by Labour who were against what the Conservatives were doing, but were powerless to stop it due to the repressive first past the post voting system that the UK has, which doesnt truely reflect the majority of peoples wishes, and makes a party, in control of certain regions, powerless to stop a centralised government intent on implementing its policies no matter what the local people think.
Now if it wasnt for this unfair voting system it is unlikely that the Tories would have had the majority of MP's in Parliament that it needed to help carry through their policies when it came to a Parliamentary vote, which would have made it next to impossible for Thatcher to implement her fucked up policies that destroyed the traditional British economy.
The fact is what happened in the 80's and early 90's is a perfect example of how Representative Democracy with a plurality voting system can be completely bypassed when the party, with the majority of MP's in Parliament, want to implement something against the majority of people of a certain region's wishes.
I mean how the hell could the Tories get a majority of MP's in Parliament when they were only dominant in such a small region of the country like southern England?
Why the hell does such a small region like southern England return lots of MP's when compared with the rest of Britain? (Which when combined has a population and territory about 3 times bigger than southern England).
For a representative Democracy to work there must be a fair and equal distribution of constituencies based on population levels (i.e. areas with a higher population would have more constituencies and return more representatives, based on the fact that there are more people to represent, then areas with a lower population).
What happened in the 80's just shows some of the ultimate flaws of Representative Democracy and its false promise to protect people from an unchecked party with a majority of MP's.
Anyway what are your thoughts on voting systems and which would be the fairest in a Democratic/Communist society?
The Liberal Democrats advocate the proportional representation voting system because, even when they get lots of votes in specific areas, the first past the post voting system doesnt transform these votes into lots of seats at a national level.