Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Dec 5, 2012 - 9:07am
oldslabsides wrote:
I just can't figure out why some of you are still on about something that's history. If you want to continue to talk argue about politics, there are plenty of threads on a variety of topics. If you want to talk argue about history, there are even threads for that. But the 2012 election that this thread was created to discuss is over. fin. kaput.
Why does it bother you?
Breakfast and dinner are over when people post in the What Did You Have for (Breakfast/Dinner) threads.
Location: Downstairs at Downton Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 5, 2012 - 9:07am
oldslabsides wrote:
I just can't figure out why some of you are still on about something that's history. If you want to continue to talk argue about politics, there are plenty of threads on a variety of topics. If you want to talk argue about history, there are even threads for that. But the 2012 election that this thread was created to discuss is over. fin. kaput.
I like discussing lots of stuff that has happened in the past (the Civil War is over. Do you wish to prohibit discussing it further?).
I'm not afraid of trying to learn new things gleaned from debriefings over past events, like the RootsCamp event that I posted about. Aren't you curious about how future campaigns might be run, and how the things national campaigns emphasize and spend money on is evolving?
If you are unhappy with our current election process, I think it would be even more incumbent upon you (no pun intended) to learn all you can about how the beast you hate functions so that you might have a better chance of slaying it, or revising it to better suit your vision of how democracy should function.
You cynics who lament our borken bipartisan political culture should be ecstatic over the Ghana elections. Your nipples should be exploding with delight!
They have several political parties, and one unaffiliated "independent candidate" running for office, for a total of 8 candidates for president.
We're not cynics, we just wish we didn't have an oligarchy that only allowed two slightly-differing views to compete for votes.
Good for Ghana. And please explain why having 8 candidates for president is a bad thing.
You cynics who lament our borken bipartisan political culture should be ecstatic over the Ghana elections. Your nipples should be exploding with delight!
They have several political parties, and one unaffiliated "independent candidate" running for office, for a total of 8 candidates for president.
I just can't figure out why some of you are still on about something that's history. If you want to continue to talk argue about politics, there are plenty of threads on a variety of topics. If you want to talk argue about history, there are even threads for that. But the 2012 election that this thread was created to discuss is over. fin. kaput.
Location: Downstairs at Downton Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 5, 2012 - 8:14am
You cynics who lament our borken bipartisan political culture should be ecstatic over the Ghana elections. Your nipples should be exploding with delight!
They have several political parties, and one unaffiliated "independent candidate" running for office, for a total of 8 candidates for president.
Location: Downstairs at Downton Gender: Zodiac: Chinese Yr:
Posted:
Dec 5, 2012 - 7:34am
MrsHobieJoe wrote:
aflanigan wrote:
Good for you. Being politically active is much better than being politically apathetic.
This is an interesting thought and I recently had a situation where I found myself doing something that might be considered apathetic I. I am always the type who exercises their vote. We had some elections n November too. Don't worry, we didn't change government and you missed it ( unfortunately) . They were for an elected position to head the police for each area, not the chief constable, but an overseer. We do not have a tradition of electing people to positions like this. We have always had an administration independent of politics. Our civil service is totally unelected, career bureaucrats who work for whichever administration happens to be in charge.
Anyhow,like a lot of people I felt that even if I turned out and spoiled the ballot I would be seen to have validated the election. So i actively decided not to vote. We were right, spoilt ballots were counted in turnout which was around the fifteen percent level. Also , predictably despite a lot of yack about getting independent people involved in this the only people with the fundng to run a campaign were the political parties so in all but one area it was a candidate fronting either conservative or labour who won. The government says that the process has been validated which is a load of bollux but hey ho we will soldier on. It Is not a big enough issue for anyone to lose any sleep over but it suggests a creeping politicisation of wider public life that clearly the majority of us don't want here. Hopefully the massive lack of interest in the process will put them off similar steps in future.
I think a consistent voter like yourself deciding to participate in an organized campaign to refuse to vote on principle qualifies as being politically active (although the net result would be the same as that arising from apathy in terms of the vote count).
I am of two minds regarding the changing of appointed positions to elected ones. Let me ask you this: prior to this election, were these people appointed by a politician, or selected by a supposedly merit-based, competitive process?
In my adopted Commonwealth, there was recently a referendum on whether to switch selection of the local school board from an appointed position to an elected one. It failed, which is sort of unusual, because most often the public supports making these positions elected ones for accountability purposes.