Election night 2005 - Brits, what's the score?

[daywane]

Mr C.
not starting a argument.
honest question.
do you live, eat, sleep , politics.
just seems to me you live for it.
not healthy.
I agree with you it is being handeld wrong but the Demacrats are doing no better.
same as over seas.
maybe I am  dumb hick/ But If I had the job performance as politics I would be fired.
I just hold people to the same standards I am held at.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Mr C.
not starting a argument.
honest question.
do you live, eat, sleep , politics.
just seems to me you live for it.
not healthy.
I agree with you it is being handeld wrong but the Demacrats are doing no better.
same as over seas.

No offense taken, so here's an honest answer:

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, but it wasn't always like this for me. I've just recently become politically active(*) due to what I see as an absolutely travesty our current political system has become. Before Bush Junior was elected, I couldn't care one whit about politics, actually, I hated politics. Still do, honestly. But I now feel that *so* many things are wrong with the current direction our country is headed that I see no option other than to fight to change it back. I had a choice after the 2004 election, USA, love it or leave it...and I decided that I love too many things about my country to leave it in the hands of the current ultra-conservative, corporate-loving religious extremists in power.

maybe I am  dumb hick/ But If I had the job performance as politics I would be fired.
I just hold people to the same standards I am held at.

This is EXACTLY why I've become politically active. How do you expect to "hold people to the same standards" if you aren't actually *doing* anything political? Your responsibility as an American citizen doesn't *end* at the voting booth, ya know. How can you feel that way about politicians, then just advocate walking away from the process?

While I certainly agree with you that being completely engrossed in politics is not always healthy and/or productive (I'm an artist by nature)...I couldn't live with myself if I weren't out devoting a decent portion of my time trying to save the things I admire most about my great country.

Btw, you do know that Saint loves politics himself, and was once student body vice-president during his time in college, right? So it's not as if political discussions are completely out of place here. Up until I knew that, I kinda' thought they didn't belong here either, but given that Saint actually likes it...it doesn't seem necessary to avoid it all together.

Just because we all like sitting on our asses while playing video games, from time to time, doesn't mean we all have to like sitting on our asses while our country goes down the toilet. I post this stuff here because it's my "backyard" and I had been coming here for years when a bunch of conservative folks started posting things I felt needed to be corrected.

Blame them for starting it, not me. I actually tried to stop it. lol.


mrC
(*) By politically active I mean that I do more than post on some hobby forum on the "internets". I donate a great deal of my time outside of work to causes I believe in. I'm also working with a few entrepreneurs I've met while running my business, to start a PAC (Political Action Committee), so hopefully I'll be a founding member of something much greater than myself.

[Nyrine@Work]

Our voting system is kind of messed up really, and I really hope we get proportional representation SOON.

Share of Vote :
Party     2005    2001
Labour    36.2   40.6
Cons.      33.2   31.6
LibDem    22.5   18.2

So we have a party with a fairly big majority, who has a very slight lead in terms of numbers of people who voted for them...

Crazy =(

[daywane]

thanks MR C.
understand a bit more now 

Nyrine
sound like our electoral system

[jbox]

Our voting system is kind of messed up really, and I really hope we get proportional representation SOON.

Australia has a similar problem, in that gerrymandering has become the de facto standard when re-zoning, instead of being something you at least *pretend* to avoid. Not to mention that the IRV system is now being exploited for its weaknesses by the major parties, and there is a complete absence of responsible media advertising rules. sigh.

But at least we still have two houses and mandatory voting! Now if only Abbott and Costello can take each other in the next two years...