[geeks] One of the things I love about America

[Mike Meredith]

On Wednesday 01 May 2002 15:51, David Cantrell wrote:
> On Wed, May 01, 2002 at 07:34:30AM -0700, Peter L. Wargo wrote:
> > I'm glad to be an American, but with the privilege comes the
> > responsibility to participate.  Not only to vote, but to keep an
> > eye and your government, and work for change.
>
> s/an American/British/ and <aol>.  We have local elections tomorrow.
> For the first time ever since I've been able to vote, I won't be.
> Mostly because I shall be going to the pub instead, but also because
> in my ward the only candidates are from the three usual parties, NONE

I persuaded someone to vote last year by pointing out that if none of
the choices look good, then vote for the candidate you least dislike.

> of them have any policies substantially different from the others,
> and they all want to do shit that I oppose.

I'm sure it doesn't apply to you, but it always amazes me that people
want things that are pretty much incompatible ... you can't drop taxes
to 0 *and* improve public services. Or at least you can't without doing
something unexpected.

What really annoys me about UK elections is how everyone is wondering
why the turnout is always so low. I'm sure one of the biggest
contributions is having the election days on a Thursday. People who are
only mildly interested in voting probably won't be bothered on a
working day, and what would be the harm in changing to a Saturday when
many more people aren't working.

('course I might be a bit incoherant after a long session playing with
FW-1)