tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post8000346268564270499..comments2024-02-24T18:05:37.846+00:00Comments on Bristol Traffic: Who to vote for? Some of the aboveUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-68591548686402635412015-05-15T15:55:45.826+01:002015-05-15T15:55:45.826+01:00I enjoyed your analysis, particularly of Lib Dem s...I enjoyed your analysis, particularly of Lib Dem strategy over the last 5 years. With hindsight, your crystal ball could do with a bit of polishing ref "no majority for either party". Depressingly, it seems that the anti-SNP conservative tactic worked perfectly for them - for the time being at least.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14121971929004890974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-53127655277293767452015-05-06T20:38:13.700+01:002015-05-06T20:38:13.700+01:00stevel says: Actually my dad was born in "the...stevel says: Actually my dad was born in "the gavarghy road", Portadown Co. Armagh to a Catholic family; his mother -my grandmother- even grew up in a cottage that had an earth floor they were that poor. So I was aware of the details. I just didn't want to go into them.<br /><br />To summarise: arguing about whether sesame street characters can hold hands on cakes is in fact a form of progress where 15 years earlier people were being shot because they believed in a slight variation on a fictional deity. Yes, the DUP are reactionary and bigoted: but so are a lot of the Conservative and Unionist Party -which is why I didn't feel it would make that much of a difference. Note also that it's been the Catholic church most strongly opposed to gay marriage in the mainland: the homophobia of the six counties spans the communities, and the<br /><br />If you did want something looking at Ulster politics it would have to cover how it does now need to think about moving beyond nationalist/unionist splits to addressing other issues, though there's something ironic in how the mainland is almost going the same way. Maybe now Sinn Fein could copy the SNP and actually turn up at Westminster and the Catholic church stop opposing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15897047" rel="nofollow">the DUP proposals to end segregated schools</a><br /><br /><a href="http://bristolcars.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/new-cause.html" rel="nofollow">Past coverage of NI</a>, all with pics of my ancestral home town.Bristol Traffichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17086394853567703369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-74356520463843157932015-05-06T09:55:28.585+01:002015-05-06T09:55:28.585+01:00So you reckon that "DUP aren't too differ...So you reckon that "DUP aren't too different from the conservative party, and won't make things better or worse"?<br /><br />Ha ha, yeah, DUP look no worse if you're lucky enough to be a straight, white, Protestant Christian male who likes to see women, gays and Catholics kept in their traditional place. Or so long as your own life isn't affected by DUP extreme prejudices that make Cameron's Tories egalitarian by comparison, then, yeah, you can afford to be complacent about the dire effects that DUP influence would have.<br /><br />http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/11571703/General-Election-2015-DUP-coalition-would-be-dangerous-for-women.html <br /><br />http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/02/01/northern-ireland-hundreds-rally-against-dup-bill-that-would-permit-anti-gay-discrimination/between-the-lineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15523250378946750149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-11274535819389619482015-05-06T00:41:10.536+01:002015-05-06T00:41:10.536+01:00WHY ANARCHISTS DON'T VOTE
BY ELISÉE RECLUS
E...WHY ANARCHISTS DON'T VOTE<br /><br />BY ELISÉE RECLUS<br /><br />EVERYTHING that can be said about the suffrage may be summed up in a sentence.<br /><br />To vote is to give up your own power.<br /><br />To elect a master or many, for a long or short time, is to resign one's liberty.<br /><br />Call it an absolute monarch, a constitutional king, or a simple M.P., the candidate that you raise to the throne, to the seat, or to the easy chair, he will always be your master. They are persons that you put "above" the law, since they have the power of making the laws, and because it is their mission to see that they are obeyed.<br /><br />To vote is befitting of idiots.<br /><br />It is as foolish as believing that men, of the same make as ourselves, will acquire in a moment, at the ringing of a bell, the knowledge and the understanding of everything. Of course it is so. Your elected person shall have to legislate on every subject under the moon; how a box of matches should or should not be made, or how to make war; how to improve the agriculture, or how best to kill a tribe of Arabs or a few Negroes. Probably you believe that their intelligence will grow in proportion to the variety of subjects they have to give their minds to; but history and experience teaches otherwise.<br /><br />The possession of power has a maddening influence; parliaments have always wrought unhappiness.<br /><br />In ruling assemblies, in a fatal manner, the will prevails of those below the average, both morally and intellectually.<br /><br />To vote is to prepare shameful treachery and traitors.<br /><br />Electors do certainly believe in the honesty of the candidates, and this is to a certain extent existing while the fervor and the heat of the contest remains.<br /><br />But every day has its to-morrow. As soon as the conditions alter, likewise do men change. To-day your candidate bows humbly before your presence; to-morrow he will say "pish" to you. From a cadger of votes he has turned to be a master of yours.<br /><br />How can a worker, enrolled by you amongst the ruling class, be the same as before, since now he can speak in terms of equality with the other oppressors? Look at the servility of any one of them, written all over his face, after paying a call to a "captain of industry," or when the King invites him to the ante-chamber of his court !<br /><br />The atmosphere of the "House" is not for deep breathing; it is corrupt. If you send one of yourselves in a foul place, you must not be surprised afterwards if he comes back in a rotten condition.<br /><br />Therefore, do not part with your freedom.<br /><br />Don't vote!<br /><br />Instead of entrusting the defence of your interests to Others, see to the matter by yourselves. Instead of trying to choose advisers that will guide you in future actions, do the thing yourselves, and do it now! Men of good will shall not have to look long in vain for the opportunity.<br /><br />To put on others' shoulders the responsibility of one's actions is cowardice.<br /><br />Don't vote!Quercushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988483668908744914noreply@blogger.com