Sunday 9 January 2011

Why do Labour still support First Past The Post?

I'm not by any means a supporter of the Alternative Vote agreeing with Nick Clegg in an earlier incantation that it was.."miserable little compromise I know I am not alone in believing that the Single Transferable Vote is the only true option and stillconsidering my opptions for the referendum .

However when faced with the option that Labour Uncut  give in support of the current system. I have began to waiver slightly. Because I would not like to vote "No" if this resulted in the assumption I was somehow in favour of First Past the Post.

Some one called Dan McCurry makes the ludicrous claim that the Two Party system is somehow more democratic. He attempts to base his argument on attacking the Liberal Democrats.

We’ve waited for generations for a chance to destroy the Liberal Democrats and get British politics back to its natural balance of a two party democracy. Finally, the Lib Dems have been exposed for the shallow bunch they are, and just at that moment when we can finally clean up, along comes this campaign, from within the party, seeking to bring about eternal coalition.
What the Labour opponents of Proportional Representation like McCury can't see is that the Two Party system excludes many who have Legitimate views. and of these it particularly excludes those who  see little difference in the Labour and Consevatives when it comes to policies which are often vilified by the Tabloid Press as do-gooders  and wishy-wash liberalism.(Though I'd rather be a do-gooder than a do- badder).

Under the last Labour government we saw the UK enter an illegal War which was largely supported by the main opposition party. It was left to the minor Parties to speak for those of us who opposed the War. The Liberal Democrats played some part in this and received some electoral advantage but were largely silent once the War started, It was the Nationalist Parties in the House of Commons who spoke for those who opposed Blair,s folly all the time.

If the two party system was existence then  opposition would have been even less.

If we were to revert to the Two Party system then we end up like the U.S.A. Where the the parties are often indistinguishable in most policies and were some Republicans are more Liberal and progressive than some Democrats.

It will also mean that the Parties will  sell them selves to money interest and we will see greater influence of Lobby Groups who would continue to  offer financial support to the both Parties in order that their Interest are promoted.

Look at the Labour Uncut Blog can any one really say this is an argument for Democracy?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They're both pretty poor options. I'd encourage everyone to vote for their preferred constitutional option - if it's not on the ballot paper then write it on! They're obliged to count spoiled ballots and if we can show that a huge number of people want genuine reform then that destroys the argument that voting "no" will push electoral reform into the long grass