Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 11:41:54 +0100
From: "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.com>
Subject: Re: election


All

Yes it was the lowest % turnout since 1918 - it is not knowable whether this
was because everyone knew that the Govenment was going to be re-elected or not.
The next election will confirm this or not.

However spending on the welfare aspects of the state will rise - as will taxes
to support it -  both have already been confirmed, the formaer explicitly the
latter implicitly.

sdv

el don wrote:

> >We have reached the end of the British General election and tomorrow the
> >choices will be made. Britain is a parliamentary democracy and as a
> >consequence as you put the little x on the paper you select both the
> >local constituency Member of parliament and also the Party and Prime
> >Minister who more or less embodies the executive branch of government as
> >well as parliamentary leader.
> >
> >The only interesting element of the election is the seemingly profound
> >rejection of the hardline neo-liberal economic positions in favour of
> >taxation, the remains of the welfare state
>
> what is really interesting is that, similar to the system in the states, it
> is far from being a 'majority rules' scenario.
> 41% of the electorate didn't bother to vote. who knows or cares what
> they think of the state, or neo-liberal economic positions.
> 23% of the registered voters gave their X to labour.
> hmmm, lessee, that's 36% of the able-to-vote who did not vote
> labour. tsk tsk. what a mandate!
>
> let's hope the welfare state in the uk keeps going with this type of
> electoral system, since the welfare system here seems fairly good,
> despite all the moaning about the NHS.
> maybe the netherlands has a better welfare system. i
> dunno if they are daring to tout all this crap about family values
> over there though. ok, that was just a jab at the social exclusionary
> tactics of the neo-liberal social machine which labour seems to feel
> it can put about without fear of gainsay. welfare tied to social
> values, erk.
>
> ah well, i come from a country where voting is compulsory. that way,
> you can't complain if the other team gets in. or, maybe you can feel
> a bit marginalised. oh, also, the system there isn't run on this first past
> the post idea. giving your vote to a lesser party makes it count when
> they say who they will give their preferences to if it comes to a
> fight. sure, it's open to a bit of sleazing, though.
>
> back to occasional browsing.
> L.