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Author | Topic: UK's Thatcher, rot in hell . . . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Straggler Member Posts: 10333 From: London England Joined: |
Caf writes: The problem is not with having more than two parties. Well that depends what the complaint is. If the complaint is that Thatcher specifically pushed through an agenda without having 50%+ of the vote - Then it seems fair enough to point out that this is true of pretty much every UK government largely because the vote is split 3 ways.
Caf writes: The problem is with an absurd and anachronistic electoral system that means votes don't match a party's representation in Parliament. I voted for voting reform when it was put to referendum recently. However that referendum went the way of maintaining the status quo. So we can blame the electorate for the ongoing use of the present system.
Caf writes: If Britain had a normal electoral system, the conservatives would have been forced to find allies, and wouldn't have been able to force through their programme against everyone else's complaints. I used to think that too. Increasingly I think the present conservative led administration wouldn't be able to get away with some of the more extreme things it is now doing but for the fact it is being shielded by the Lib Dems....
Caf writes: The same would have gone for Blair. I think having to partner with the Lib Dems probably would have curbed the worst excesses of Blair's authoratarian streak with regard to "security" measures and suchlike.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Dr Adequate writes:
The public knew what her ideology was (or ought to have known) when they elected her. They affirmed their support for her ideology by re-electing her twice.
She was carrying out her own ideology, independent of what the public actually wanted. Dr Adequate writes:
You keep using the word "majority" as if it had some significance. If Thatcher had been elected by a tiny majority or a substantial majority or a huge majority, would that justify her actions any more than if she was elected by the system that is?
A majority of them didn't want her to do those things, and they didn't want her to be Prime Minister.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined:
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Dr adequate writes:
It doesn't matter how many people were dissatisfied. If only chocolate and strawberry are on the menu, it doesn't matter if most people want vanilla.
And dissatisfied a greater number of people. Dr Adequate writes:
As I have mentioned, the British system isn't that different from the American system. Americans seem to have an obsession with numbers like "majority" but that doesn't seem to generate a higher level of satisfaction in their government.
Because of the strange British electoral system, this does not follow from the mere fact that she was elected.
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Rahvin Member Posts: 4039 Joined: Member Rating: 8.1
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It doesn't matter how many people were dissatisfied. If only chocolate and strawberry are on the menu, it doesn't matter if most people want vanilla. That is simultaneously the most succinct and most accurate description of (at least American, which I realize isn't actually what you're talking about) politics I have seen in a long time.The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion (either as being the received opinion or as being agreeable to itself) draws all things else to support and agree with it. - Francis Bacon "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." - John Rogers A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. — Albert Camus "...the pious hope that by combining numerous little turds of variously tainted data, one can obtain a valuable result; but in fact, the outcome is merely a larger than average pile of shit." - Barash, David 1995.
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dronestar Member Posts: 1417 From: usa Joined: Member Rating: 6.4 |
RingO writes: It doesn't matter how many people were dissatisfied. If only chocolate and strawberry are on the menu, it doesn't matter if most people want vanilla. Rahvin writes: That is simultaneously the most succinct and most accurate description of (at least American, which I realize isn't actually what you're talking about) politics I have seen in a long time. Most accurate? Errrm, . . . I disagree. There were many flavors of 'vanilla' on the menu in the past: You had low-fat-vanilla-Howard Dean, Vanilla-with-real-vanilla-beans-Nador, Vanilla-with-chocolate-chips-Kucinich, and finally French-Vanilla-Jill Stein. They were unfortunately withdrawn from the market because of poor sales.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 305 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
The public knew what her ideology was (or ought to have known) when they elected her. They affirmed their support for her ideology by re-electing her twice. Except that they didn't.
You keep using the word "majority" as if it had some significance. If Thatcher had been elected by a tiny majority or a substantial majority or a huge majority, would that justify her actions any more than if she was elected by the system that is? If she had merely been an instrument of the popular will, then that would to some degree have excused her, since if it hadn't been her it would have been someone else. But that was not the case.
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Rahvin Member Posts: 4039 Joined: Member Rating: 8.1
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Most accurate? Errrm, . . . I disagree. There were many flavors of 'vanilla' on the menu in the past: You had low-fat-vanilla-Howard Dean, Vanilla-with-real-vanilla-beans-Nador, Vanilla-with-chocolate-chips-Kucinich, and finally French-Vanilla-Jill Stein. They were unfortunately withdrawn from the market because of poor sales. There's a difference between accuracy and precision. The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion (either as being the received opinion or as being agreeable to itself) draws all things else to support and agree with it. - Francis Bacon "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." - John Rogers A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. — Albert Camus "...the pious hope that by combining numerous little turds of variously tainted data, one can obtain a valuable result; but in fact, the outcome is merely a larger than average pile of shit." - Barash, David 1995.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Dr Adequate writes:
Didn't what? Know what her ideology was? Or re-affirm their support?
ringo writes: Except that they didn't. The public knew what her ideology was (or ought to have known) when they elected her. They affirmed their support for her ideology by re-electing her twice. Dr Adequate writes:
"I was only following orders," is seldom acceptable as an excuse. Whether the Brits were following her orders or she was following theirs, none of them is exculpable.
If she had merely been an instrument of the popular will, then that would to some degree have excused her, since if it hadn't been her it would have been someone else.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 305 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
So if we follow your logic no UK government except the one of 1931 has ever had a popular mandate... They didn't. The words "popular mandate" mean something, and yes, it describes something that no UK government since 1931 has actually had. What they've often had is an absolute majority in Parliament. Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 305 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
Didn't what? Know what her ideology was? Or re-affirm their support? Didn't vote for her.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Dr Adequate writes:
They voted for her indirectly.
Didn't vote for her.
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Straggler Member Posts: 10333 From: London England Joined: |
OK. In which case there is no reason to single out Thatcher on that.
There are numerous things we could single her out for. Many of which I would do so. But this majority popular vote thing isn't one of them.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 305 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
They voted for her indirectly. No. In none of the elections were indirect ballots cast, 'cos of there being no such thing.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 305 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
OK. In which case there is no reason to single out Thatcher on that. I didn't. I said that it wasn't an excuse in her particular case. If people tried to excuse any other British Prime Minister on the same grounds, I'd say the same thing. Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.
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Straggler Member Posts: 10333 From: London England Joined: |
Well I don't think she should be excused and I don't think anyone else who objects to her policies has said she should be excused either.
The simple point here is that without people voting for her she would have been nothing.
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