[geeks] Fahrenheit 9/11

[Mike Meredith]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 13:23:29 -0400, The Renaissance Man wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 24, 2004 at 06:05:29PM +0100, Mike Meredith wrote:
> > because you'll usually not be voting, but for the politicians you
> > dislike the least ? Very cynical, but with the politicians we've got
> 
> And a sad reflection on how badly the system has broken down.  It's no

At least I managed to convince a few people to start voting again by
pointing out how I pick people to vote for.

In the UK (bear with me ... I think the US political system may have
some of the problems that the UK has), we elect MPs to represent the
area we live in by the 'first past the post' mechanism. Which usually
means my MP represents a minority of the views of the people in my area
(if you add up the votes for others in the area it is almost always a
majority).

Which means you can frequently end up with an MP 'representing' you,
with whom you have nothing in common. If you're unlucky and stuck in a
safe seat, you'll end up being stuck with what you regard as the wrong
MP for a long period ... maybe your entire life. Is it any wonder people
get disenchanted with the political system ?

What's the obsession with geography anyway ? If I choose to vote for
someone from Portsmouth (where I live), then fine. But I might prefer to
vote for someone whose policies and views I agree with more. Why not
allow anyone to vote for anyone they like ? If a prospective MP gets
100,000 votes, (s)he's in. If they get 200,000 votes, they get 2 votes
in Parliament.

Amongst other things, I guess this would demolish two-party systems and
reduce the likelyhood of strong government. *I* don't see that as bad,
but I guess the existing politicians might not like it.

(Sorry about the long deranged rant ... it's just the mood I'm in)