Politics - mostly about PR
May. 11th, 2010 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99Have been getting into it about PR on facebook.
Mostly the anti-PR have stopped shouting 'Italy' at people who are pro-PR, because we are capable of shouting 'Germany' back.
They've now switched to shouting 'but the BNP might get in'. I am cheered by the number of people who have turned round to say 'if that's who people vote for, then so be it, it's supposed to be a democracy not a only-parties-we-approve-of-cracy'. I mean, I of all people (foreign and queer) am really not in favour of them getting into power, but, if we're going to claim that Britain is a democracy, those people who vote for them do have a right to a voice (my friend L disapproves of PR for this reason, but has a pass on this argument, because he'd change the rule of who can vote, and makes no claim towards believing in democracy).
One chap also said that GB is a bigger economy than Germany so frequently having coalitions would be bad. I used IMF data to set him right on that point.
The other thing that's been interesting is having the Scots chime in with 'you England-centric idiots, we have it up here, and it's not caused that much trouble'.
Mostly the anti-PR have stopped shouting 'Italy' at people who are pro-PR, because we are capable of shouting 'Germany' back.
They've now switched to shouting 'but the BNP might get in'. I am cheered by the number of people who have turned round to say 'if that's who people vote for, then so be it, it's supposed to be a democracy not a only-parties-we-approve-of-cracy'. I mean, I of all people (foreign and queer) am really not in favour of them getting into power, but, if we're going to claim that Britain is a democracy, those people who vote for them do have a right to a voice (my friend L disapproves of PR for this reason, but has a pass on this argument, because he'd change the rule of who can vote, and makes no claim towards believing in democracy).
One chap also said that GB is a bigger economy than Germany so frequently having coalitions would be bad. I used IMF data to set him right on that point.
The other thing that's been interesting is having the Scots chime in with 'you England-centric idiots, we have it up here, and it's not caused that much trouble'.
