h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In Britian everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote, what you do with that right is up to you, even my sister gets a polling card and she has cerebral palsey, I don't think I bothered last time.

When I registered to vote. no one at the beaurocracy seemed to notice, and I still haven't gotten my card, six months later. This meant that I couldn't vote in the last election, but to be honest, there's little point. All the politicians in Ireland are exactly the same (ie corrupt, rich, smug, and complacent, rather like doctors, lawyers, and architects), I don't like any of them and don't really want to support anyone. Hence it is quite unlikely that I will vote.

Traveller in Time rolling by
"You know what you choose for: < A2978102 >!

Altough I can see the point, politicians seem to invest more in gaining 'The Power' then in actually using it to create decent laws. They say the education has to be better, and the next thing they do is cutting budgets . (No one mentions they get loads of allowances to drive big cars)

On the other hand the competition to become a politician is heavy, they have to promote theirself to manage to climb to the top.

Hmm, sorry, who is 'John Kerry' anyway? I guess he is the opposition for B. ?"

That's right, !

I like his policies, but even if I didn't I'd vote for him to get B. out of office!

So Kerry will probably get the protest vote from a lot of people anyway. Although I'm not sure how that kind of thing would work if not everyone votes... I mean, we ended up with our stupid Premier because some of the country people did a protest vote against the last one to send him a message, but most people, (including the Labor party) thought he'd win and they were just sending him a message to pay them more attention. The Labor party didn't even think Bracks would iwn, they just put him there so there'd be someone and they were going to make a big push in the next election with a different guy, and then he got in...

Is that a fact?

When did he get the name "Bracks"? I've never heard that one.

Hey, Scan. At that rally, did Kerry have a big campaign sign behind his head saying "I'm not Bush"?

No?

I keep thinking he should do.

If I was in America, I'd vote Nader, he just seems like the best.

Oh, and here's yet another link about Bush: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/09/08/notes090804.DTL

I don't accept that all politicians are the same
True with most of them it seems to be a matter of choosing the least worst of them but Bush is worse than Kerry and almost anyone is better than Thatcher or Michael Howard, even Tony Blair (just barely)

I grew up in the Thatcher Years, there were good points as well as bad, we'd have lost the Falkland Islands and British subjects would be living under Argentine rule, she broke the power of the unions, I remember the Power, steel, petrol, bread, sugar, dustmen, miners strikes of the 70's, she gave the Anti Terror organiazations what they needed to get to the IRA, I have this on good authority, she broke Arthur Scargill's strangle hold on the miners and yes I know there were 3 million unemployed, and the counry was broke etc etc but what would have happened then if Labour hhad been in power

As a member of the Labour Party 1983-1995 I'm not likely to find much to praise in Thatcher. True, not all she did was bad but IMO the way she went about doing it usually was. The Falklands would probably not have been invaded if it wasn't for John Notts proposed defence cuts. The Franks Report concluded that the government made serious errors in its handling of the situation before the Argentineans invaded. I too remember the 1970s and whilst the unions were out of control then she tipped the balance too far in the employers favour. She broke the miners as well as Arthur Scargill. Visit former pit villages where mines closed down in Scotland, South Wales and the North-east (where I was living during the Miners Strike) and tell me it was a good thing. On fighting the IRA yes she did some good but it took PMs prepared to talk to them, Major and Blair, to bring about the peace settlement. Who knows what would have happened if Labour had won 1 of the 3 elections it lost during her period as PM? Equally, who knows what would have happened if the Tories had chosen a more reasonable person as leader in 1975.

Yes, Blair was good with Northern Ireland, but not Major. Also, one must consider the UVF as well as the IRA in this circumstance, rather than considering only the Irish ones, as everyone outside of this island is wont to do.

Oh, and ANYONE is better than Bush, with the possible exception of Hitler.

Very true Hussassin, when the Good Friday agreement was signed I asked a friend of mine who'd served in Ireland for many years, if it would work, he said yes because the main protaganist's would start fighting amoungst themselves, because we don't hear much of what goes on these days is that True Hussassin