One American's Reaction to the UK Election
May. 7th, 2010 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bewizeToday's 3w4dw theme is politics. Good God. The quickest way to lose friends is to talk politics. But, that's never stopped me before.
Luckily (or not), I don't want to discuss American politics today. Not exactly, anyway. I want to talk about the UK election, but there is simply no way that I can avoid talking about it like an American.
Here in the US, we have a firmly established two party system. The President does not come out of Congress and politics typically dictates that whichever party controls the White House, won't control the Capital. I personally think this displays a deep wariness in Americans to give any one group too much power.
With reference to the two party system, I cannot count the number of times I've heard American voters bemoan the lack of a viable third party option. While I acknowledge that other political parties exist, they just do not seem to have the strength or power to shake things up in the ways that I think many of their supporters would like.
I would like to advise all supporters of a multi-party system to pay close attention to the UK over the next months.
The UK electorate has spoken - and nobody can figure out what the hell they said, according to pretty much every analyst I watched/read today. But perhaps that is the message. Labour lost, but the Conservatives didn't win. The Lib Dems are suffering from a sharp blow to their egos and everyone is wondering where all that support went in the last few days. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party snagged a few seats (not enough to combine with Labor for a majority, nor enough to combine with the Conservatives for a majority). The BNP was shut out.
The question that will now have to be answered is: Now what?
This is the first British Hung Parliament in a post-9/11 world and the first one in over 30 years. Everyone is talking about how technology will change things, too. Cell phones, text messages, emails. But power is power and right now there is a pretty obvious vacuum that's doing the UK no favors. (The pound is falling against the dollar, which ironically makes my planned vacation in 2 weeks considerably more affordable).
Between the election and the collapse of Greece, all of Europe is in an uproar, the reverberations of which are definitely being felt around the globe, especially to financial markets, none of which are steady on their feet to begin with. (And already the fear mongering in this country has begun. "It could happen here!")
Despite what I've just said, I will admit to a secret relief with the outcome. I almost feel as though I should deny having any interest in the outcome, given that I'm not British, but the majority of British people I knew and spoke with during the US Election certainly had opinions. The whole world did. If I had been voting, I know how I would have voted. I would have been disappointed with the outcome today, I will admit that much. But I am also fascinated by the thought that perhaps this might not be such a horrible thing, after all.
Perhaps, what the British people have said is, "We don't trust any of you assholes."
To that, I stand up and clap. With Labour self-sabotaging over the past 13 years and the Tories still staggering under the weight of Thatcher's legacy, I don't know why anyone would trust either of those parties. The third party choices, although stronger than in the US, still lack the power to bein in charge, but they do have enough power to be key players now.
The reason this is all so fascinating to me, is that now we will get to see exactly how a multiparty system will work. Someone is going to have to compromise. Well, technically, I guess Cameron doesn't have to compromise his claim to PM, but it would take a special sort ofstupid nerves to behave as though he's been given any sort of mandate when he so clearly hasn't. The Tories took the majority, but not a big enough majority. They cannot force anything through Parliament and if it all gets too hectic, the Queen can force a new election. (Hey, look at that! I thought it was a totally honorary position, but it looks like she does have some clout in this situation.)
Already the fast-talking and dealing has begun. I guess we can all wait and see what comes out of it, but perhaps forcing the government to take it slow - to really think about what it's doing - to consider the fact that they are literally there at the whimsy of the voters - is a GOOD thing.
To my friends in the UK, I wish you all the best of luck. And I hope this multi-party thing turns out to be everything we all hope it is.
Luckily (or not), I don't want to discuss American politics today. Not exactly, anyway. I want to talk about the UK election, but there is simply no way that I can avoid talking about it like an American.
Here in the US, we have a firmly established two party system. The President does not come out of Congress and politics typically dictates that whichever party controls the White House, won't control the Capital. I personally think this displays a deep wariness in Americans to give any one group too much power.
With reference to the two party system, I cannot count the number of times I've heard American voters bemoan the lack of a viable third party option. While I acknowledge that other political parties exist, they just do not seem to have the strength or power to shake things up in the ways that I think many of their supporters would like.
I would like to advise all supporters of a multi-party system to pay close attention to the UK over the next months.
The UK electorate has spoken - and nobody can figure out what the hell they said, according to pretty much every analyst I watched/read today. But perhaps that is the message. Labour lost, but the Conservatives didn't win. The Lib Dems are suffering from a sharp blow to their egos and everyone is wondering where all that support went in the last few days. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party snagged a few seats (not enough to combine with Labor for a majority, nor enough to combine with the Conservatives for a majority). The BNP was shut out.
The question that will now have to be answered is: Now what?
This is the first British Hung Parliament in a post-9/11 world and the first one in over 30 years. Everyone is talking about how technology will change things, too. Cell phones, text messages, emails. But power is power and right now there is a pretty obvious vacuum that's doing the UK no favors. (The pound is falling against the dollar, which ironically makes my planned vacation in 2 weeks considerably more affordable).
Between the election and the collapse of Greece, all of Europe is in an uproar, the reverberations of which are definitely being felt around the globe, especially to financial markets, none of which are steady on their feet to begin with. (And already the fear mongering in this country has begun. "It could happen here!")
Despite what I've just said, I will admit to a secret relief with the outcome. I almost feel as though I should deny having any interest in the outcome, given that I'm not British, but the majority of British people I knew and spoke with during the US Election certainly had opinions. The whole world did. If I had been voting, I know how I would have voted. I would have been disappointed with the outcome today, I will admit that much. But I am also fascinated by the thought that perhaps this might not be such a horrible thing, after all.
Perhaps, what the British people have said is, "We don't trust any of you assholes."
To that, I stand up and clap. With Labour self-sabotaging over the past 13 years and the Tories still staggering under the weight of Thatcher's legacy, I don't know why anyone would trust either of those parties. The third party choices, although stronger than in the US, still lack the power to bein in charge, but they do have enough power to be key players now.
The reason this is all so fascinating to me, is that now we will get to see exactly how a multiparty system will work. Someone is going to have to compromise. Well, technically, I guess Cameron doesn't have to compromise his claim to PM, but it would take a special sort of
Already the fast-talking and dealing has begun. I guess we can all wait and see what comes out of it, but perhaps forcing the government to take it slow - to really think about what it's doing - to consider the fact that they are literally there at the whimsy of the voters - is a GOOD thing.
To my friends in the UK, I wish you all the best of luck. And I hope this multi-party thing turns out to be everything we all hope it is.