Comment by arrowsmith
2 days ago
Is it "democratic" when both parties agree on everything of substance and elections don't change anything no matter who wins? Because that's how "democracy" has worked in the UK for at least as long as I've been alive.
Also, no-one asked for this bill, both parties support it, it received basically no debate or scrutiny and was presented as a fait accompli. Where's the democracy exactly?
There are any number of criticisms I would happily join you in directing at the British parliamentaey system but I don't think relying on American businesses to pressure the government would actually be the win for democracy you seem to suggest?
None of this is responsive to the specific criticisms made, and nor are the follow-up replies.
I didn't say anything prescriptive, I'm just disputing your use of the word "democratic".
For all it's issues I think you would be hard pressed to argue that the United Kingdom isn't a democracy in the common sense of the term.
3 replies →
The Brexit referendum ought to have shut up the “your vote doesn’t make any difference” folks forever (regardless of whether or not they were in favor of Brexit). But they tend to have short memories.
Someone doesn't know the difference between a simple majority referendum and a parliamentary election result.
>elections don't change anything no matter who wins [not you, but who I was responding to]
The Brexit referendum was in the 2015 Conservative party manifesto [1]. If Labour had won the 2015 election then there would have been no referendum and the UK would still be in the EU. Or if people had voted differently in the referendum, the UK would still be in the EU.
The person I was responding to suggests that elections have never changed anything in the UK within their lifetime. Unless they are less than 10 years old, this is clearly false.
[1] https://www.theresavilliers.co.uk/files/conservativemanifest... (p. 30)