Brits who are you going to vote for next time?

[Bonniedundee]

I think it comes from the fact that not only conservative parties (The Conservatives in the UK and the GOP in the US) were the one to implement "the conservative revolution" but many of their social views (individual responsability & co or "no handouts is the best help we can give to the poor/working class" etc) went well with their economic laissez faire...

You can define conservatism differently but that has been a current in the right wing parties since forever. After all, using classic economic theories, some people were against state interference and increased wages in the XIXth century... As Contra would point out, it was workers' movements and unions (aka the left) that battled to change this...

But Conservatism, in the Burkean sense, is all about society to claim there is no such thing as society is to put yourself firmly into the liberal tradition. The methodoloigcal individualist belief that society and institutions is just made up rational, autonomous actors with given identities and preferences who transact occassionally to form institutions is not conservative in the least, it an Enlightenment liberal idea, which can still be seen in American style libertarian and Neoclassical economics and even some leftwing liberals, attacked by people like Burke.

And actually it wasn't just the left, many conservatives were against laissez faire capitalism in the 19th century like John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle and even Disraeli. When the labour party had its first electoral successes in Britain the MPs were asked to name the book which had influenced them most and the majority cited, according to Clement Atlee, John Ruskin's Unto this last. He was also a big influence on the likes of William Morris.

[CookieD18]

Gilles and Bonnie seem to think similarly to me in terms of economic balance between left and right. Good to know.

[Bonniedundee]

Sort of except I wish to see mainly decentralist intiatives that build small companies, co-ops, smallholders, local utilities etc and I don't think Gilles is worried about that. In fact he probably wants rather the opposite, but I'm not sure.

[Gilles de Rais]

Originally Posted by Bonniedundee

Sort of except I wish to see mainly decentralist intiatives that build small companies, co-ops, smallholders, local utilities etc and I don't think Gilles is worried about that. In fact he probably wants rather the opposite, but I'm not sure.

It depends on what we are talking about. I am not against small & medium enterprises, of course. They are vital to any economy. They may be local only or actually be based on import/export, I am not worried by that.

I am less enthusiastic about local utilities or a few other sectors like banking. The US has thousands of small banks and i can't see it was any saving grace in the S&L debacle. Neither is it particularly good in today's crisis. Diversification of risk is one strength of the system and while it can be achieved in many ways, a certain size help.

Apart from those very limited particular cases, i am happy to let economic actors "choose" the size that they think suit them best. Small is beautiful and big is good too. Depending on whatever sector you're in... and depending on your strategy.

When it comes to economic policy, I favour maximum cooperation from the lowest to the highest level, from the village to the planet. It's all about smoothing the business cycle.

[Bonniedundee]

Our views are very different, it would take pages and pages to just flesh out the essential basis for our different views. Needless to say I'm very skeptical that big is often good. There is a right size to most things and they shouldn't be too small but in general I think the size is still quite limited and most importantly we live in a society of excessive bigness. It is the worship of bigness that has to thought at the current epoch. If it was smallness that was excessive I, like E.F Schumacher, would likely attack that but that is not the world we live in.

[Dave]

Currently and I can't believe I am saying this, but Conservative.

Mainly based on what our MP has done for our constituency and also he has personally helped me and Keely out with an issue we have had, after meeting with him at one of his constituency surgeries last year. Our MP is Dr Andrew Murrison the current Shadow Defence Minister.

[witnesstheday]

i see i have a lot of work to do.

listen. obama won! i say clegg. the world has changed. clegg has someone in america he can do business with. why waste it?

[witnesstheday]

my candidate (if she stands here again) is the asian version of Nora Batty - Norsheen Bhatti.
a very accomplished young lady. the labour guy is set to win.
tory won't achieve anything. TAKE THE RISK, vote for clegg's party.
their policies are by default the most appropriate in a financial catastrophe -
tax the rich. it's time to test the libdems' long untested bottom line.

[witnesstheday]

i will campaign for libdems throughout the hood and the south of london... i may even have a lot of leisure time and money to campaign with!

nick clegg
vince cable

these are men we can trust, for god's sake

[CookieD18]

Originally Posted by witnesstheday

i will campaign for libdems throughout the hood and the south of london... i may even have a lot of leisure time and money to campaign with!

nick clegg
vince cable

these are men we can trust, for god's sake

I trust them more than Brown or Cameron. And I will be voting for them after Cameron gets in next election. But I still dont trust them enough to do this country proud.

[Bennett]

The problem with voting in the UK is the tactics involved. You need to either vote out a possibly threat to the seat by giving your vote to his opponent. You cannot vote for the candidate that best represents your pov.

Tactical voting also skews the results from the perspective of polling and understanding who the UK actually wants in power.

After this hurdle, the first past the post system ensures that the popular vote is not reflected.

This gives an impression as to why we are all so fascinated by the US election!

[CookieD18]

Originally Posted by Bennett

The problem with voting in the UK is the tactics involved. You need to either vote out a possibly threat to the seat by giving your vote to his opponent. You cannot vote for the candidate that best represents your pov.

Tactical voting also skews the results from the perspective of polling and understanding who the UK actually wants in power.

After this hurdle, the first past the post system ensures that the popular vote is not reflected.

This gives an impression as to why we are all so fascinated by the US election!

You think the US system is that much better?

[Bonniedundee]

Originally Posted by witnesstheday

i will campaign for libdems throughout the hood and the south of london... i may even have a lot of leisure time and money to campaign with!

nick clegg
vince cable

these are men we can trust, for god's sake

I wouldn't trust the libdems. Not unless you intend the next GE to about electing a president in Brussells.

[007]

Originally Posted by CatWoman

As a white Single childless person I see no reason to vote as I am automatically disenfranchised by any political party pary simply the wrong demographic darling

And no one bums you cos you aint their lower school secretary!!