»UK Political System«
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 There seems to be some differences between political badges as seen from various countries, so in an attempt to explain why the term "liberal" is not so damning for us, here's how things work over here. Political Structure. The UK is not a democracy in the true sense of the word, it is an unusual offshoot called "Parliamentary Democracy" which in plain terms means "democracy to an extent". As far as elections go, the UK is divided into zones called constituancies. Within each constituancy, people vote on who they want to represent them from the parties that stand. The Party that wins in a particular constituancy is said to have gained that "seat", this means the Member of Parliament for the elected party in that constituancy gets to sit in parliament. At the end of the election, the total seats are totted up and in general the party which has the most, forms the government (with the people who won their seats) and the party with the second most forms the opposition (again with the people who won seats). In actual fact its more complicated, but we'll leave that for now. This may all seem straight forward, but it could mean that the person you voted for, gets his seat in parliament, but does not get to be in the government (if his party lost as a whole). The Party which forms the government chooses a leader - this is the prime minister and the person who runs the country. This is Parliamentary Democracy, because the democracy chooses the parliament, it is the makeup of parliament that chooses the government. The system is open to abuse and history has seen many examples of governments changing electoral boundries to make upcoming elections more favourable - joining a marginal constituancy (one where it could go either way) with a government stronghold - thus pushing the vote their way. The elected ministers (of all parties) make up the lower house of parliament - called the house of commons as it represents the views of the common folk. In addition, we have an upper house - the house of lords, made up of the old fogies and land owners of old. These are unelected and either inherit the title, or are bestowed the title in recognition of political service or by knowing the right people. The upper house can block government directives and laws, but usually only do so until a compromise is reached that suits them all. Political Parties Though there are many, because of the "seats" election system, most of them don't have enough candidates to win an election, the best they can hope for is a seat in parliament and the chance to put a point across. The main 2 are Labour - the current Government and Conservative - the current opposition. Traditionally, Labour represents the left (or socialism). Fighting for the rights of the worker and promoting public ownership of utilities and public services. Traditionally, Conservatives represent the right (or capitalism). Fighting for the benefit of business owners and promoting private ownership of utilities and public services. Our current government though has called itself "New Labour" and is in effect a second conservative party. The third party is the Liberal Democrats, formerly the SDP, LDP and Liberals. They are characterised by their "middle of the road" approach, favouring neither extremes they tend to wander from side to side depending on the issues. Liberal is the opposite of extreme (hence our confusion over "liberal extremists") and so the name implies that they agree with a bit of each side, but not much of either. This flip-flopping has meant that they don't win many elections, though if Labour continue it's rightward trend into capitalism, the Liberal Democrats may find themselves the party of the left. There are also regional parties like Scotish National Party, which show a strong local following, but again don't have the numbers to form a full UK government. But then why would they want to, the SNP would prefer a totally independent Scotland, and they might just get it. Ok, I think that's it (Did I miss anything?) posted by Marl64 |
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| in-my-opinion.orgPoliticsPolitics and Crime (Assorted topics)UK Political System |
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Not really part of our political system, but something I just wanted to add. As I said, Labour traditionally favours public ownership (socialism) and conservative favours private ownership (capitalism). The Capitalist view (as explained elsewhere) is to get public services away from governmental control and into the hands of the individual, socialism seeks to do the opposite. "Capitalism is about taking services away from the government and putting them in the hands of the individual" Seems like a good thing, favouring the individual over the government. But I think this in itself is misleading. What it does is takes control from the ELECTED government and puts it in the hands of the UNELECTED individual SHAREHOLDERS. Take Bus companies - under governmental control (as they used to be in the U.K.), they serve the community as a whole. Some routes don't make money so they are paid for by the routes that do - profit is not the primary drive, service is. Now in the UK we have privatised buses. Sure this introduces competition, but it also introduces cost-cutting. Non-profitable routes are axed and the bus companies all cherry-pick the hot spots. I'd be wary of anything that takes control away from the goverment and puts in in the hands of the individual - particularly if that individual is not you  posted by Marl64 |
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 If the government supports things which would not survive without them then often this can mean that bad companies continue to thrive. Bad organisation can often follow from being supported by the government. Competition forces a company to be more efficient. Without that pressure, companies can be less effective. I'd be wary of anything that keeps alive what should not live. posted by fatpie42 |
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Either system should in theory work. The problem is we have a little of this, a little of that. While the Government push the benefits of market forces and true competition, they are unwilling to submit to them. They maniplute the interest rates, provide subsidies to one industry but not to it's competition. They impose levies and taxes on foreign goods to make our products seem more affordable - not what market forces are supposed to be about. You know, the US government gives tax breaks to companies that export to Britain - making their products cheaper here than the US. But our government slaps tax back on again before we get to see it. They tell us that we can't buy cheap fags in france though europe is supposed to be a free trade zone - just because the French pay less tax than us. One of the "get outs" they had in the Euro constitution was regarding taxation - the government wants the UK to keep control of it's tax system. So no cheap fags and booze for us. 
Hey I know, we have a publically funded dinosaur of an organisation that wastes tons of money and constantly gets stuff wrong. Let's see if we could streamline their operation through privatisation. The Government.  posted by Marl64 |
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 ..the govenment get away with all the shit it pulls when there are supposed to be watchdogs that stop the public getting ripped off? I know it seems like a nieve question but surely corruption cant win ALL the time? Sick of taxes that screw us over and no one complains(of which i am guilty) posted by Crossfade |
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The time now is 10 February 2012, 20:12 php B.B. |