Comments on: Election? What election?

By: louise

louise — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:58:10 +0000

Indeed – I realise how lucky we are to have the NHS, for all its faults and problems. It is clearly envied by others, judging by the amount of health tourists the UK attracts. I’d hate to see it go if we ever switched to another way of running this country. But our political system is, as you say, the least bad option under the current circumstances. I long for something, different and better. We could certainly start making the move toward PR. I see myself as British rather than English but it irks me that we have no English Assembly of some sort while the Scots, Welsh and Irish all have a degree of self-government. And then there’s the wretched Mid-Lothian question. None of this works properly and then there’s the state becoming more intrusive into people’s private lives in so many ways. Scary stuff.

Maybe I should move to a Pacific island. Preferably one with broadband.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:00:49 +0000

I guess it’s another way of looking at the old argument: one of problems with democracy is that the kind of people who seek power are exactly those who shouldn’t be trusted to wield it. I’ve just read Toby Young’s NY book, and in between all the celeb-spotting he gets his PPE hat on and offers a pretty interesting discussion of Tocqueville’s critique of American democracy, which, again, deals with similar problems.

If I had more balls my lack of faith in politicians and governments would drive me to a stronger libertarianism. But I’m a typical, hypocritical Brit who can’t stand big, bossy governments but at the same time is tremendously attached to ideas like free universal healthcare. Until someone invents a way of making socialist systems (or libertarian anti-systems) really *work*, we’re stuck with Churchill’s ‘least bad’ option – parliamentary democracy.

By: louise

louise — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:05:02 +0000

I can’t disagree with you, Nick!

Certainly the UK focuses far too much on the US when it should be looking across the Channel. I think it’s partly because of a shared language with the States. Those of us who have lived in mainland Europe perhaps see the need for the UK to have greater affinity with the rest of our continent, but inevitably the general attitude here is one of bashing the EU and having no real understanding of what actually powers it.

By: NickClayton

NickClayton — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:40:06 +0000

Inevitably if Obama’s elected he’ll be a disappointment as would Kennedy have been if he hadn’t been assassinated before he had time to let his supporters down. I also think there’s far too much focus in the UK on US politics. We are part of Europe, although if somebody could figure out a way of towing Britain to the Caribbean I’d support that.

But that’s not the same as saying who wins the US presidency isn’t exciting or important for the world. I remember thinking it made little difference whether Gore or Bush got the job. I think at least the people of Iraq would now beg to differ. You can’t be sure Gore would have ignored the UN and invaded, but it seems less likely. And the same goes for a whole series of other issues.

The world with Obama as president might be safer, with Bush III it certainly won’t be.