I have been campaigning like crazy for the Lib Dems in Ealing and Central Acton. It is fun, for the first time in my life, to live in a marginal constituency. I am pretty confident this will be a Lib Dem gain. The local candidate, Jon Ball, is a good man, not least because he quite voluntarily, and before I moved into his constituency, came to one of my lectures!
The Tory candidate, Angie Bray, is a PR professional from Cameron’s “A-list.” Thanks to George for digging up this puff piece about her from the Financial Times, which cheerily informs us:
Angie Bray in Ealing Central and Acton was unabashed about using political links formed while working for the Tory communications machine to help her private PR clients
So much for Cameron’s claims that the Tories represent a cleaner politics…
And..if anyone believes the LIB DEMS will make one bit of difference I say not so before the results are in. They are simply all the same. Very bad at government.
“Posted by: tony_opmoc at May 6, 2010 9:48 AM”
I like it!
My, the moral superiority of Liberal Democrats is something to behold! It takes your breathe away.
How about taking £2.4m in donations from a donor who, subsequently, was discovered to have been trading fraudulently and is now on the run? What about his creditors – yes, those ‘little people’ who were owed money by this shyste..sorry, charlatan?
Oh, thought so. To a Lib dem, that doesn’t count. We’re much too moral to do something like that, aren’t we.
I believe that it’s the duty of every good citizen to vote. It’s a chance to share in the power of the country’s rulers and do something that will have an impact. Democratic privilege shouldn’t be taken for granted. Lots of people would envy us the chance to vote freely at such elections. They remain the glory of the free and democratic world even when they are flawed by fraud. We should be grateful for the privilege and use it!
Abe, you’re right. Even in the context of ‘business/ war parties’, etc., we should still vote. This may sound paradoxical, but it’s not. If no-one except the rich had voted in the first election following the Great Reform Act of 1832, we would still have only the rich elegible to vote.
A young child I know said to me yesteray that she was afraid of elections because “in Pakistan, when there are elections, people get killed”.
I reassured her that thankfully that did not happen in UK elections. God forbid.
It made me sit up though.
One ought never to take any sort of democracy – even limited, corrupt, imperfect democracy about which we are deeply critical and skeptical – for granted. People died for it – and elsewhere they continue to die for it.
Abe Rene,
In principle I agree with you, but none of the candidates where I live represent my views. They are all extreme right wing authoritarian idiots.
I have no one to vote for.
So I will go for a long walk in the Countryside instead and hopefully see some bluebells.
This way hopefully I will avoid a string of idiots knocking on my door asking me to vote for their fascist parties.
Tony
Ingo, what do you mean, Jack Straw masterminded Clegg’s leadership campaign? I mean, did you mean that? How?
Although I call on people to abstain from voting, it is quite sick to see obviously NeoLabour fascists or Smarmy Tory Sleeze buckets (both of which have PROVED BEYOND ALL DOUBT to be utterly corrupt) come here to try and rubbish the lib dems purely for party political purposes. I’d just like to say a big f u to those writhing worms
Yeah, and the BNP. ‘Time for a clear out’ indeed.
Watch the news pictures from Greece.
Western capitalism is going through a major phase-change and Greece is just a dry run for what the New World Order has planned for the rest of us in the Domino Group of Portugal, Spain, Iceland, UK, Ireland as the next bunch. Bullies pick on the weakest, and here we are.
Cameron is their man and a vote for him will bring it closer, that is why the Murdochs of this world are so anxious to get him in with a clear majority. I remember the London Poll Tax riots and it would not surprise me to see more trouble here. The banks got away with their big initial cash robbery, and the next instalment of their power-wielding will arrive soon. The Tories will never stand up to them and show plenty of signs they are relishing the economic cuts to come to put the middle classes back in their place. The Osbornes, Camerons and Blairs will be fine with their fat bank accounts and their powerful friends.
Tony (opmoc)
Even if the candidates are all unsatisfactory from your point of view, by voting you make it more difficult for the worst of them to get in and easier for the least bad. Therefore it’s still worthwhile exerting your influence. You’ll still have several hours to do it, when you return from your rendezvous with the bluebells!
tony,
Whilst I largely agree, the UK is still a Soveriegn Country because we didn’t join the Euro. We can escape the plight of the rest of Europe as it collapses around us. The Debt is NOT a problem and in fact could all be paid off tomorrow. The effect would not cause any hyper-inflation, but would avoid the worst effects of major deflation, stagnation and impoverishment. The Government whatever flavour it is will have to take control back from the Powerful elites or have it taken from them by the rioting masses.
The mistake most people make is in assuming that Governments that can issue their own fiat currency are in the same position as private individuals or companies. It doesn’t work like that.
Greece needs to go back to the Drachma like yesterday.
All the main parties want to drag us into the Euro, but by the time they get the chance it will already be defunct.
The important thing is to get everyone doing useful work. That is what money is for.
Take a course in economics at Newcastle University in Australia. Professor Bill Mitchell is the only Economist who is making any sense
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/
Tony
Abe,
If I go to the pub and all the beer is off, I demand my money back and walk out.
I then complain to the brewery about the landlord.
Tony
@Tony and @lwtc247 – if you don’t believe in voting, go spoil a paper today. You’ll be lumped into the “don’t care, can’t be bothered” category if you choose not to.
Do they count spoiled ballots? If so totally agree with Jon. You two do care. So prove it 🙂
Tony
From this ‘beer’ there is no escape – because MPs have the power to pass laws and to compel you to obey them so as you live in the country. It’s either stand as an independent, become a party candidate or vote for a candidate on offer. If you don’t vote, you’ve effectively gone for the third option and had no say in the process.
MI5 files will keep new MPs in line…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6vIbt-9hm4
Tony (_opmoc): thank you very much for the link to Billy Mitchell’s blog. I’ve only had a cursory look so far but have already found one fine insight:
“…given (1) control of a central banking system and (2) an inconvertible currency, a sovereign national government is finally free of money worries and need no longer levy taxes for the purpose of providing itself with revenue”.
Mitchell didn’t write that, but he found it in an old paper written, surprisingly perhaps, by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the 40s.
I don’t understand that, MJ? How would the ‘sovereign national government’ pay/fund itself, without taxes? Or hospitals, or anything?
Washington, D.C., May 5, 2010. Army Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, is being court-martialled by the Army for refusing to obey orders to deploy to Afghanistan.
This high ranking American army officer will be interviewed and broadcast live and unedited from CNN’s New York City studios on May 6, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. eastern time, 3:00a.m. GMT.
Jon.
Spoiling a vote is good too.
But I don’t really care what group someone would falsely lob me into. Things like that kind of demonstrate my point. The system’s broke mate.
Respect to Craig who has allowed me to canvass for you’re “no votes” to date. Openness and bravery like that are partly why Craig as an Honest Man garnered my support previously.
MJ.
Remember the most devestating lies mix fact with fiction. Not everything that comes from the fed is bollocks. A significant majority maybe, but not everything (please don’t ask me for when they don’t. I admit, I’m supposing)
To be fair to tony_o, He did say it takes careful and long reading. Be patient. I actually did that test too. I only scored one, LOL. and statistically that it was a 50/50, but I must admit I was puzzled by some of the answers too.
technicolour: it’s certainly counter-intuitive. Probably best that you take a deep breath and read the whole article: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=9281
Cheers, MJ. So state & local governments need to tax (which answers my question about hospitals) but a national government doesn’t.
Mmm.
Ade Rene at 12:26 and Suhayl Saadi at 1:00,
well said, I agree wholeheartedly. To all the “Don’t Vote”ers, get out there, vote tactically and
HANG THE DAMN PARLIAMENT!
(because that’s what you’re really arguing for, anyway!)
Remember, even not voting send a message:
“I don’t care, do as you like”.
@technicolour, yes they count spoiled ballots. Though they do not separately count deliberately spoiled papers, a spike in spoiled numbers indicates that politics has become less relevant or more frustrating for people.
@lwtc247 – you should care what group people place you into. You’ve really thought about it, and care about politics, and yet by not voting you are registering as “don’t care”. Which is entirely fine with the elite groups and deep state that you rightly rail against.
Imagine if a substantial minority rebelled and spoiled their paper – it only takes a single spark to ignite it – it might change things in this country for the better. Sure, elite interests would battle against it, but they’re organised against us – we can hardly afford to throw in the towel.
Great rant from Penny Red; concludes:
“Turn in your internet license, you’ve got no more business ranting at empty cyberspace if you can’t put your shoes on and engage with hard copy the one time it matters.
Which is right now.
Get your shoes on, get out of the house and vote. Put the internet away. This is it. Game on.
Go.”
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/For_fucks_sake_vote/
Let’s hope that if the LibDems get one hand on power in a coalition they will be able to force a change in the system so that our votes matter even if we aren’t fortunate enough to live, like Craig, in a marginal constituency. It’s still far better to spoil your ballot paper than not vote at all though, because abstaining helps the party activists to get their own people elected and argue that those who didn’t vote must be happy with the status quo.
It’s funny to hear those, (Conservatives mostly), who argue that a coalition would be OK in normal circumstancees but would not be up to the job of coping with the current crisis. Have they forgotten “our finest hour”?
@ Clark ad Jon
No. You are falling head long into the spin factory. IMHO the WHOLE process is a scam. It must be rejected in its entirety. Legitimizing the forthcoming different scales of mass murder is NOT going to STOP mass murder. It’s people who falsely spin the meaning of no votes and who pander to that spin, undermine those who refuse to vote. Cheers.
But as I said before, a spoilt vote is also a way to register protest too, but allow me to put a counterfeit pound coin in the spin factories electricity meter and see what it comes off the production line…
The spoilt votes means x% of the voters were incompetent/didn’t understand how to vote/were confused as to the info displayed on the ballot paper/need assistance on how to vote properly/ etc etc etc
Do you really think that say, if 80% of people didn’t vote that ANYONE could get away with saying “those people can’t be arsed to vote.” When most of the entire country in the pubs, churches and mosques proudly declare their didn’t vote for the very reasons I’ve been mentioning so far? I think not.