Message #1495

[Martin]

If you vote Labour you get the Labour Tories.
If you vote Lib Dem you get the Lib-Dem Tories.
If you vote Tory you get the Tories.

I think the Tories did well because their vote turned out and because they are doing what their supporters want them to do.  They turned out because they wanted to see off any change to AV since self-interest dictated that they should vote NO to avoid losing seats.  This is what makes the whole idea of a referendum on the voting system such a farce.  If, say, 70% of the voters vote for a party that gets more than its fair share of the votes they will want to keep that advantage. The 30% who are denied their fair share can't change the inequality in a referendum because the majority want to hang on to their unfair advantage.

I find the whole political situation very worrying.  We have no change to our voting system (not that a change to AV would have provided what we need), so now we face ever more disaffection amongst the voters.  The fewer people vote the less accountable our MPs become, the less controll the people have over their government.  Getting into Parliament is a ticket to become an associate director of some business, or accept cushy european jobs etc. Meanwhile the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  It's already got to the stage that the government is told what to do by the banks and by big business.  With the Tories in charge for the next few years I don't see any moves to change that.  Labour and the Lib Dems aren't going to change it either. We're sunk.  There's no way back.  Roll on slavery.