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Cherish our democracy

10:18am Friday 19th June 2009 in


RECENT scenes in Iran, where people have so little faith in the legitimacy of elections that they have taken to the streets in protest, are a timely reminder of how lucky we are.

There are many flaws in our democracy: we have an unelected Prime Minister who refuses to call a General Election, the BNP won two seats in Europe on little over eight per cent of the vote and too often our elected representatives are found acting in a manner which damages public trust.

Despite all this, we should consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have a functioning democratic system. Unlike voters in Iran, we have the ability to “kick them out” when we grow tired of our elected representatives’ indiscretions.

In the recent European elections it was disappointing that turnout was only about 30 per cent and the proportional representation system used allowed for some peculiar and unfortunate results.

The fact remains, however, that we should remember our good fortune in getting to choose our MPs and MEPs, especially as this also means we can choose to get rid of them.

James Wharton, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton South.

Comments(7)

dolanp1 says...
12:34pm Fri 19 Jun 09

We don't chose our MPs the party does and since most people vote along party lines if a card board cutout was up for election party followers would vote it in, the word democracy is the one most loosely used by our politicians the majority of whom have no understanding of its meaning.

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simpsonm says...
9:27pm Fri 19 Jun 09

Mr Wharton has a short memory or maybe he was in the nursery when John Major became the occupant of 10 Downing Street and we can all remember the departure of Mrs Thatcher. Kicking out is one of Mr Wharton's specialities and as I understand it he is set to kickout again. What we need in an MP Mr Wharton is total honesty and transparency with fairminded views and strength of character. There should be no room for weak individuals who feel the need to "organise" a result. They should also be able to accept criticism without ill-feeling and be able to speak to all constituents not just those that they favour.

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Dean M says...
10:34pm Fri 19 Jun 09

Sounds like you have a personal issue with Mr Wharton, simpsonm?

Come on then, give us something interesting to comment further on, over the weekend!

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Colin Wood says...
1:26pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Reminded me of Trevor Agnew Simsonm's post, isn't it funny how some people you talk too are like talking to a plank of wood.

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Colin Wood says...
1:35pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Similar people protest in our democracy and riot at the anti-Israel protests.
I presume Iran does not want their country ruined by this behaviour any more than we do.

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simpsonm says...
8:28pm Sun 21 Jun 09

People need to take heed of what others know and remember the following. "They came for the Jews and nobody cared.

Any controller if successful can become more and more powerful until they regard themselves as the supreme being capable of being able to do anything.

A comment for Mr.Wood - a plank of wood does not have a brain or even a heart but being hit with it can be fatal.

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Super steve says...
9:21pm Mon 22 Jun 09

This chap from the Conservatives says " Cherish our democracy" ?? I find that rather confusing because both the tories and the labour party activly the UAF? ANL Searchlight organisation that uses violence and intimidation to disrupt democratic elections?. Both messers Cameron and Brown have expressed support for these " Anti Nazi organisations" even though they campaign to BAN legal democratic political parties, and have been caught out on numerous occasions resorting to viiolence to disrupt balllot counts. This gentlemans idea of democracy only involves two identicle parties but with different leaders. I say the tories are as bad as labour when it comes to preserving democracy.

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