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Robin May · September 12th 03, 09:31 AM posted to uk.transport.london

(Boltar) wrote the following in:
om

Robin May wrote in message
.. .
enough for them". Well I'd suggest that in actual fact the voting
booth isn't good enough for them, because they have no hope of
electing a candidate who would represent their political views.

Hmm, interesting. So you're saying that any group of people whose
views are of such a minority standing that they'll never get
anyone elected,

No, the electoral system is organised in such a way that it prevents
them from getting anyone elected.

should force their views on the majority by
illegal means. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I was always under
the assumption that democracy was government by consent of the
majority.

You are wrong. It's incredibly rare for a Government in the UK to have
been voted for by the majority of the population. I'm not actually sure
if it's ever happened. The current labour government has the support of
about 40% of those who voted, which means less than 40% of those
eligible to vote. There are also cases where a government can have a
smaller percentage of the vote than the opposition, but because of the
way the first past the post system works they still have more MPs. I
know that this has happened, and I think even to the extreme of the
opposition having a majority of votes cast (although I'd have to
check). And of course there's the very well known case of America,
where Bush got fewer votes than Gore and still won.

If suddenly the minority should be in control why not
just take that to its logical conclusion and have the minority as
one person which for arguments sake we'll call a dictator.

I wasn't suggesting the minority should be in control. I was suggesting
that they should have the means to express their opinion.

I get the feeling you're the sort of person who only thinks a vote
is democratic if it happens to agree with your views, which is
generally the attitude of extremeists everywhere.

Well you shouldn't rely on your feelings too much then. I don't
particularly agree with the protesters who caused the disruption. It's
not really an issue that I feel all that strongly about. But I do think
that what we call democracy really isn't as good as some people seem to
think it is, and leaves a great many people ideologically unrepresented
in parliament.

--
message by Robin May, founder of International Boyism
"Would Inspector Sands please go to the Operations Room immediately."

Unofficially immune to hangovers.