Saturday 20 October 2012

Pr is better since we have no obligation to vote Tory

The first past the post system is problematic because there is no reason to vote for the centre-right party (the Tories) unless we identify with them and see the opposition as a threat to freedom. If we see ourselves as the Tories or as someone who is supported by the Tories then fptp is adequate because it is then natural to defend that party in an election. If the Tories are the default party of government with which you identify then fptp is fine. If on the other hand there is no default party of government then fptp is a problem because it is not conservative to be voting for the Conservative party. Individualism is a conservative philosophy. It doesn't make any sense for a conservative to be voting for a large monolithic fptp party. It doesn't make sense for the entire country to be conservative... we must be conservative in relation to something else. If to be conservative is to be virtuous then it makes no sense for everyone to consider themselves to be a conservative because we can only be so in relation to others... and this is where there is a problem with fptp. There is no information in the system if we are all expected to vote for the large centre-right party... we cannot differentiate what is good policy and what is bad because everyone agrees and there is no room for argument. The Conservative party is not an anarchist party by definition... we must vote for it for it to be relevant. If it is the anarchist party then the presence of government contradicts that position because it has been in (exclusive) power in the past and not abolished government. The Conservative party is a party of government not an anarchist party which means that it cannot expect to be the default party of government and that fptp is bad. If the Tories are not the default party of government (which they can only be if they are anarchists... and which by definition they are not) then it is not progressive to defend them in an election... the opposition are not necessarily a threat we are merely choosing which party we prefer. Fptp is a problem because the Tories are not anarchists which means the opposition are not by definition bad. If it might be true that the opposition (Labour) are not bad (and might then be electable) then fptp makes no sense because because we have no obligation to vote for the Tories... and we might as well vote for anyone. Fptp makes sense if the Labour party are by definition bad and we have an obligation to protect the country and to vote for the Tory party. If there is no logic to fptp then the default system to have would be proportional representation.

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