I just want to say that Bozo hasn't yet decided which way to cast his vote. So any/all of the things I write in the next few days are not really campaigning, even though they are mostly pro AV.
How does that work?
Well the reason I am not certain about voting "yes" is that the devil is always in the detail and I am worried that what we get will be a non-transparent nightmare that we regret.
But I am certain that a lot of the arguments for voting "no" are so totally spurious they make me laugh, and I did want to shoot arrows at them liberally.
Because there are many things wrong with first past the post.
Argument One: First past the Post Gives strong Government
Yes it does, but is that really such a great thing? We had 13 years of Thatcherism from 1979 to 1992 Followed by a weak Major government followed by 13 years of Blairism. I am not sure what the Thatcher and Blair landslides/mandates meant as far as the hearts and minds of the electorate were intending but I don't look back on Thatcherism or Blairism (or even Brownism- indeed - still less Brownism) with any fondness. What we seem to have proved is that give any human being, even a smart one, many years of unchallengeable power and eventually they will screw up massivle and there is nothing we can do to stop them. The Poll Tax and the Iraq War are what you get from strong government.
Argument Two: Coalition Government is a nightmare
Yes it is - for the party with the most seats, but who else is it supposed to be a nightmare for? I heartily believe a coalition would have prevented the worst excesses of Thatcherism and prevented the worst excesses of Blairism. I certainly believe a coalition wouldn't have been led so easily by the nose into Iraq by George W. Or that it would have created the biggest government deficit in history (even before the bank bail out)
And who here thinks Germany is some sort of economic wasteland? Er no one....
And Germany since WW2 has had coalition government as a norm! Including now! When I lived in what was then West Germany there was coalition government and it didn't ruin my time there! Didn't seem to be holding back German economic prosperity very much either. And have you noticed that Germany, unlike us, still actually has a successful manufacturing industry? one that doesn't whine all day about China? [Well I am sure it whines - but it still exists and seems to be doing well]. Since Blair in 1997 here the Germans had a "red-green-coaltion" from 1998-2002; the so-called "Grand Coalition" from 2005-09 and the current somewhat shaky and complex CSU-CDP-FDP coalition. I am sure it is a day to day nightmare for the politicians to do deals that make everyone happy.
But what economic harm has been done to Germany in this time??????
Exactly.
Coalition Government in Germany has most certainly been a nightmare BUT NOT FOR THE VOTERS!
MY point here is not that you have to dash out and vote for AV, my point is that many of the arguments against are spurious and need to be treated with appropriate contempt.
Bozo has some thoughts on the democratic nature of the opposing systems too - but we can save those for next week.
Enjoy your long weekend.
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