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anada367
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.* O . . .. ..O .. 367 02 Jun 2001 ) ( ')
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* ***O O O O O O O O O \( _)|
* O o o.*..o.*..o.*..o. .net "Ticians of Pol" *
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* |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' by Schoolboy *
* '---''(_/--' `-'\_) *mE0w* o
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'Anada is cat-friendly..o*`
Oh Jesus, it's General Election time in Britain! June 7th and all I
can say is at least it's not as draining as the US election process.
There's no trawling around 50 mini-countries begging to be nominated then
multi-million $/ ad campaigns with one side insinuating the other secretly
engages in necrophilia. It's all good, clean, low budget, dry, worthy and
lifeless fun.
It's also a forgone conclusion and includes a variety of parties the
US voters would not believe. A couple of things you need to know about all
this if you ain't a Brit:
Firstly, there are strict rules about how much parties can spend on
campaigns. We're talking about 5% what Bush will have spent. They all have
the same maximum budget so wealthy candidates/parties don't have an
advantage. Also all donations of any notable size have to be declared
publicly to legitimise them.
Secondly, the country doesn't elect "The Prime Minister" but his
party. He happens to be the leader and therefore masthead for the party.
The whole process is akin to voting for your senator except that by voting
for your senator you also vote for the Prime Minister/President.
Thirdly, there has not been a two party system in Britain for over a
century. We have three main parties who have all been in power at some
time; the Conservatives (the UK's Republicans - Small government, Big on
Capitalism), Labour (Sort of Democrats - focus on social justice and helping
the poorest) and the Liberal Democrats (formerly the centre party but now a
bit of a mish-mash - focus on individual liberty and equality of
opportunity). On top of these, however, are a dozen or so tiny parties who
get on everyone's nerves because they just fill up the ballot paper with
names you're not interested in and try to confuse you by calling themselves
things like "the Democratic Liberal Party" or "The Socialist Labour Party".
Gits.
So, as I say, because budgets are limited and personalities are not
the main focus of attention, simply policies, and because Labour are so
obviously going to win again the whole bloody thing's going to be very dull
but at least not as annoying as the US experience... Or that's what I would
have said before the Deputy Prime Minister punched a protester! It was
fantastic! The country's second most senior politician was struck by an egg
by someone 2 feet away from him so he just turned round and walloped him on
the jaw! Imagine if that happened in the US!
So it was shown in slow motion like a Daytona car crash for about 36
hours on the news channels, and after it all, the government went further
ahead in the polls! The tabloid newspapers called him "Two Jabs" as his
previous nickname was Two Jags because of his Ministerial purchase of two
Jaguars, considered very extravagant. Only in britain.
This is the worst kind of election because you just want to get it
overwith. Labour have had a 20 point lead for the last 3 years so it's not
going to be a surprise.
I love tight elections. I would have been utterly absorbed if
something like Bush/Gore had happened here. I was very excited by the last
UK election because, although we knew Labour would win, we didn't know by
how much and which Tory (Conservative) Member of Parliament (MP) would lose
their seat. Also, the nation had been desperate to throw the Tories out of
power after 18 years of rapidly declining government.
The exciting element of UK elections is that, unlike, your statewide
senator elections, our MPs are battling for seats in constituencies with
just a few hundred thousand voters. This means a few percentage points of
swing from one party to another can create surprise results. These MPs also
serve in the cabinet so, despite a government being returned to power, it
has still been known for cabinets to suddenly be without the Defense
Minister, Home Office Minister or even Deputy Prime Minister!
Another bit of spice to add to the mix is that there's always one or
two MPs that change party allegiance in any given year. They normally leap
from the Conservatives to Labour. I don't see that happen much in the US.
Aside from that we still have a chronically outdated democratic
system. We still have all motions passed by the House of Commons ratified
(or not) by an entirely unelected House of Lords, which, because they are
almost entirely of the ruling classes, are so conservative they'd like to
make it compulsory to ride the Penny Farthing again. This is being changed
slowly but the problem is any reform has to be by changing the law (we have
no written constitution) and that means the frigging House of Lords has to
ratify it. How many people do you know who would vote to be out of a job or
to abolish their own organisation? Sheesh.
Then, of course, the Queen is still the head of the Constitution.
She is the equivalent of President Bush. She is the head of the armed
forces and the head of the Church of England. Unfortunately Henry VIII's
run-in with the Pope in the 16th Century saw the melding of Church and
State, which still is here. She is, or if not then she was until recently,
the richest woman in Britain and possibly the world. But I just don't think
this is ever going to change.
The desperate instinct of the British to cling on to their imperial
past will not allow them to seriously contemplate transforming the monarchy
into the kind the Dutch have or the Swedish have. These modern European
monarchs have real jobs and live in houses rather than palaces and simply
nominally exist to head the constitution and save the rigmarole of electing
a President. We sad, pompous Brits don't want to lose the spectacles of
Trooping the Colour and royal weddings especially while Spain still have a
very glamorous monarchy.
In the end, politics, the monarchy, like many other things, are all
down to vanity.
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( o.o ) (c) Anada e'zine anada367 by Schoolboy o
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