The UK elections
I just had a couple thoughts on the UK elections that took place last night.
PM Blair has won re-election albeit with a lowered majority. Every now and then, I would check with the BBC to see if there were any updates. Polling information wasn't readily available (either that, or I couldn't find it) until early evening. I just gave up and tuned in after polls over there had closed and final projections were given. In addition to the news sources, I checked out a couple of UK blogs such as Kate's, Billy's, Jim's, and Ian's. There seemed, from what I read, that there is heavy dissatisfaction with Labour with its supporters jumping either to the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives.
While I was watching a clip on BBC World News, one of the voters were complaining that there weren't other parties in which they could transfer their vote to. There were Labour supporters who didn't want to vote for either of the two large opposition parties. While this particular guy was saying this, I just wanted to go over there and smack him upside the head. Come over here. There are only two political parties to choose from. There is an upside and a downside to that. They both have to capture the moderate voter which causes both parties to shy away from extreme positions. Believe it or not, this "conservative" administration is one of the most liberal, fiscally speaking but more conservative, socially speaking and it really is beginning to irritate me to the point where I may jump ship in the next election. Unfortunately the Libertarian Party is not viable in this country so I have to choose the lesser of two evils. So when I hear someone complain that 3 parties are not enough (and they have more), I just have to take a deep breath and calm down a little.
President Bush has taken the official line of not endorsing any candidate which I think was a good position. I too, have withheld my opinion. Not that it really matters, either a Labour or a Conservative victory would not be a significant threat to American interests. Maybe Lib Dems, but I don't know too much about that party's platform or how compatible it would be. There were a couple of reports of Democrats here in America helping out the Labour campaign. As much as I liked Labour for the past couple of years, I still think that it was highly inappropriate for them to do that. Even President Clinton's endorsement was inappropriate. I was mad when UK citizens were writing to Ohio residents pleading them to vote for Kerry. Now we were doing practically the same thing to them. It doesn't matter who they elect. The U.S. can deal with whoever it is, even if their leader turns out to be a dick.
PM Blair has won re-election albeit with a lowered majority. Every now and then, I would check with the BBC to see if there were any updates. Polling information wasn't readily available (either that, or I couldn't find it) until early evening. I just gave up and tuned in after polls over there had closed and final projections were given. In addition to the news sources, I checked out a couple of UK blogs such as Kate's, Billy's, Jim's, and Ian's. There seemed, from what I read, that there is heavy dissatisfaction with Labour with its supporters jumping either to the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives.
While I was watching a clip on BBC World News, one of the voters were complaining that there weren't other parties in which they could transfer their vote to. There were Labour supporters who didn't want to vote for either of the two large opposition parties. While this particular guy was saying this, I just wanted to go over there and smack him upside the head. Come over here. There are only two political parties to choose from. There is an upside and a downside to that. They both have to capture the moderate voter which causes both parties to shy away from extreme positions. Believe it or not, this "conservative" administration is one of the most liberal, fiscally speaking but more conservative, socially speaking and it really is beginning to irritate me to the point where I may jump ship in the next election. Unfortunately the Libertarian Party is not viable in this country so I have to choose the lesser of two evils. So when I hear someone complain that 3 parties are not enough (and they have more), I just have to take a deep breath and calm down a little.
President Bush has taken the official line of not endorsing any candidate which I think was a good position. I too, have withheld my opinion. Not that it really matters, either a Labour or a Conservative victory would not be a significant threat to American interests. Maybe Lib Dems, but I don't know too much about that party's platform or how compatible it would be. There were a couple of reports of Democrats here in America helping out the Labour campaign. As much as I liked Labour for the past couple of years, I still think that it was highly inappropriate for them to do that. Even President Clinton's endorsement was inappropriate. I was mad when UK citizens were writing to Ohio residents pleading them to vote for Kerry. Now we were doing practically the same thing to them. It doesn't matter who they elect. The U.S. can deal with whoever it is, even if their leader turns out to be a dick.
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