Former Home Secretary David Blunkett says he's "bewildered" by Nick Clegg's fascination with bringing in proportional representation which, he says, would result in the current horse-trading being repeated after every election. He tells Sunday Live he believes the Conservatives and Lib Dems will "cobble together" an agreement but that stable government is "much, much more important than some squabble over the voting system."
Blunkett's statement does illustrate the mentality of politicians. For them, this is a job and the connection between what they do and the democratic rights of the electorate must be intangable. It's no wonder that the public feel more disempowered than ever in a genertaion when we know far more about politics and politicians.
Even senior politicians don't seem to understand the frustration people feel when their vote is meaningless under an unfair system. The democratic ideal of each person having an equal voice is the most important thing to uphold. Surely the politicians should be forced into learning how to get along, instead of stripping the public of their democratic rights!
Just to nag at the Tories for a minute - they preach of a society in which each individual is responsible for the success of the whole and yet openly support a voting system that strips those same individuals of their ability to make choices on the most significant issues. It also conveniently allows them to keep a grip on their power. They constantly complain about the Nanny State and the over-reaching arms of Government and yet tell the voters they can't vote for who they want because a Tory majority is the only way to keep the country stable. It's just patronising and hypocritical.
ADDENDUM:
A little bit of number crunching and some generalisations here, but I'm fairly certain that much of this is somewhat reliable. Looking purely at vote-share the Conservatives got 36.1%, Lab 29% and Lib Dem 23%. Combining the centre-left votes comes to 52% and whilst I'm not sure that all Lib Dem voters would want a Labour government I'm sure that most wouldn't mind one. I'm also sure that most of them are strongly anti-Tory. 52% (and more if you include the fringe parties) of the country are supportive of anything but a Tory government and yet they'll almost certainly be in power. I'm beginning to think that a Big Brother-style elimination vote would end up with more satisfied voters than our current system. It would eliminate the fringe and there would be no vote wasting. That's possibly the most depressing thought I've had in a long while....our voting system is inferior to reality TV.
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