Never will understand this one.
"Labour are doing a shite job of running the country. The Tories are the other big party, so they must be able to do a better job. Let's vote them in instead."

Please send your answers to Spot the Logic Competition, PO Box 142, Basingstoke.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:01, 34 replies)

This isn't really a logic problem, though.
More a logistical one.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:07, closed)

It still rankles with me
that a party can be elected not on the basis that it "is the best" but that it "could marginally to be argued to be the least worst in current circumstances", i.e. when public memory has faded of how epically they fucked it up last time.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:14, closed)

Democracy is the lesser of political evils.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:26, closed)

Agreed, absolutely.
It's not the institution of democracy that I'm attacking; it's the perplexing habit some people have of voting for a party that is populated and managed by arseholes and visibly proud of the fact.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:39, closed)

The world will never be short of idiots.
EG the "I'm a Labour/Conservative/Liberal/MRL man, and I always have been. I'll always vote for them!"
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:43, closed)

Unfortunately true.
Sometimes several stupidities co-exist within a single person, like the elderly US voter interviewed by the BBC in the run-up to the Presidential elections that saw Barack Obama take office: "I have been a Democratic voter all my life, but I will not vote for a negro."
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:48, closed)

And yet - AND YET - when I suggest we remove the vote as an automatic right, to be replaced with a system in which you earn it by passing an independent test on current affairs each election year ...
People get all uppity.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:50, closed)

I think guaranteeing the independence and transparency of the test would be the hard part there.

( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 13:10, closed)

Yes it would.
But that's not my concern - I'm an ideas man, not a factory foreman.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 13:21, closed)

I like the idea.
Handing control to an intellectual elite would preclude your participation.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 13:30, closed)

Oh ZING!

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 15:58, closed)

So what?
Democracy can fuck off then?
(immadme, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 18:18, closed)

make it a paid privilege rather than a right
make it most expensive to those who can least afford it, and those who are likely to abuse it

bollocks, I didn't read the thread above so this makes no sense in context

never mind
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 21:12, closed)

One of Nevil Shute's novels - I think it was In The Wet, posited an interesting future Britain in which people have multiple votes allocated to them, up to 7, depending on...

One by default, everyone has this
One for completing a degree, a professional qualification, or being appointed an officer in the military
One for foreign travel

then some slightly more dubious ones

One for achieving a high personal income over a certain level
One for family values - raising 2 children without divorcing

then it starts getting really surreal

One for being an official of the church
One that can only be awarded by the reigning monarch, for merit
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 21:25, closed)

That sounds excellent.
Other than the church bit.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 19 Dec 2013, 9:59, closed)

I take it you were active in the campaign for a fairer voting system a few years ago?

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:38, closed)

I haven't lived in the UK since 2006.
The campaign was given little-to-no coverage where I live; the press were a lot more interested in Nigel Farage and his plane-crashing antics.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:46, closed)

Commie scum.
fuck off back to North Korea.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:11, closed)

Nah, I have another two weeks' holiday to go.
Wouldn't want to come home in the middle of this year's Christmas Purges.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:14, closed)

I love a good purge.
I normally use undercooked economy Danish pork.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:37, closed)

Winter bouts of intestinal 'flu are very effective too.
They have the added benefit of lasting an entire week, for optimum cleansing.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 12:52, closed)

Some of us
voted for the Lib Dems, which was essentially the same thing as voting Tory. The majority of people didn't want a Tory govt. Labour are cunts but their not fucking cunts. Sad that's my voting criteria for 2015....
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 15:50, closed)

This is another thing.
If people don't like Labour, they vote Tory. If they don't like the Tories, they vote Labour. If these people stopped to think for a moment, they might remember a third party, whose policies are neither champagne socialist nor Orwellian, and if a sufficient number of people voted for that third party, then voting for it would no longer be the same thing as voting for [whichever of the other two parties is not currently in power]. But these people don't vote for the Lib Dems, because "they've never been in power", which is tantamount to saying they've never had an opportunity to prove they're bad, unlike the other two, who get opportunities to show how they can fuck things up on a regular basis.

I do agree with your classification, though: Labour are corrupt and incompetent but the Conservatives are actively evil.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 16:21, closed)

The Lib Dem's are like damp squibs though
Nick Clegg has barely voiced an opinion.

Either way, we're fucked.
( GeordieJay Bummers are deaf, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 16:34, closed)

That's Nick Clegg, though. He volunteered to be Cameron's catamite.
They had a voice in Paddy Ashdown. Not had much luck in recent years finding a leader who wasn't either a lame duck or an alkie.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 16:41, closed)

Agreed
Paddy was trutworthy, as was John Smith for labour. Damn your heart John!!! In affect his death allowed that slimey tory to run the labour party into the ground. People on B3ta seem to have a lot of time perhaps we should start a party??
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Thu 19 Dec 2013, 10:18, closed)

There seems to be a cosmic rule to that effect.
For John Smith it was:

Pros - Trustworthy, principled
Cons - Crap heart.

For Dominique Strauss-Kahn it was:

Pros - Brilliant political and financial brain
Cons - Sex pest.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 19 Dec 2013, 11:43, closed)

The people of Syria probably wouldn't agree.
I see your point though.
(immadme, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 18:09, closed)

I can't see voting Lib Dem being an especially attractive option at the next election.
Between the outright lying, and vote yellow, get blue, I'd imagine that they'll be back in the political wilderness for some time.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 16:38, closed)

an opposition political party does not win an election...
... the ruling party lose it.
(immadme, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 17:39, closed)

I bet that sounds really deep to thick people.

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 22:12, closed)

Well I'm thick and it sounds shit to me.

( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Wed 18 Dec 2013, 23:11, closed)

Slam your head in the door a few times.
You're clearly not thick enough.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 18 Dec 2013, 23:24, closed)

Vote for a small and inconsequential party or and independent.
Then they might end up getting the balance of power in the senate and then hold the balance of power.

At least then when people whinge about the govt. you can say you didn't vote for Labour/Tory/LNP/Labor/Democrat/Republican.

*Actual vote wastage may vary.*
(nob fartbelm NOT a "comedy account", here for srs bizness, Thu 19 Dec 2013, 7:16, closed)