Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
I take your point Studio25......but have you ever tried to educate someone who has a firm belief that the chap or party they support is the only one suitable.......that they might be better looking at someone else?
It is nearly impossible to change the views of a dyed in the wool political supporter, and that is one of the reasons that the solution offered by Russell Brand is both implausible and unworkable. You only have to look at the numbers of people who attend the conferences of each political party to see that.
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My mates and I sorted all this out over the table at the pub the other night. The only solution that we agreed could work (after three pints) was a voting system where the policy drives the vote - but nobody in power would ever allow it to happen. Basically, you are no longer voting for a party or individual, and grouped with the people who live near you. Potential MPs publish an individual stance on a list of policies, and voters put those same policies in order of preference. Whichever politician most closely matches the voters' manifesto becomes PM.
Everything else can stay the same the same - except that if a politician lies and votes contrary to their own manifesto, they get shot at by the Duke of Edinburgh and only allowed to remain in politics if they survive. (You can tell we'd had that third beer by now.) You can tell in advance which politicians are shady because they will go on a crash diet to make them harder to hit.
Obviously the idea would need tweaking - such as whether to use a shotgun or a rifle, but for an alcohol-influenced political reformation, it wasn't too bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
As for me pontificating...I accept your view of that and concede that my influence on the subject is about as much as a gnat bite on an elephants bum......so little that is practically unnoticeable.
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I wouldn't go that far: I read your entire post, I didn't watch any of the Russell Brand video (I can't stand him - I just picked up on what he said based on the comments here and Robert Webb's response). So your opinion has had far more influence on me than his.