nickie on 8/7/2024 at 10:59
On a personal note, this was the first time I didn't vote in a general election primarily because although I could get to the polling station, I couldn't get home again. In my lifetime so far I've voted Tory, Labour, Lib Dem, Green and Plaid Cymru. Thatcher was the only PM who fundamentally damaged my financial life but at the same time she totally energised my demonstrating life. Every other government has come and gone without really affecting me and I'm thankful for that.
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index) The Democracy Index says we are still a Full democracy and that is what is more important to me than anything else.
Thank you, France, for hanging in there.
Harvester on 8/7/2024 at 11:34
I'm happy about the result in France even though the country doesn't exactly become easier to govern without a party with full majority. As I understand forming a coalition (standard practice in the Netherlands) is not customary in French politics. But rather this than have Rassemblement become the largest party. I'm also pretty content with Labour in the UK getting a proper go at putting their money where their mouth is.
WingedKagouti on 8/7/2024 at 12:54
Quote Posted by Harvester
I'm happy about the result in France even though the country doesn't exactly become easier to govern without a party with full majority. As I understand forming a coalition (standard practice in the Netherlands) is not customary in French politics.
Coalitions is fairly common in northern Europe
except the UK from what I can tell. I'm not going to say it's the best way to do things, but it does lead to the winner of an election not taking their power for granted.
heywood on 8/7/2024 at 13:07
Ciph - We've been trying ranked choice voting here. Two states have adopted it so far, Alaska and Maine, and there are proposals to adopt it on the ballot this year in more states. It's also been adopted by ~50 cities for their local elections. Naturally, ten red states have banned it. Conservatives don't like people trying things. And it messes with their gerrymandering system.
SD - Your take on the UK election is interesting. So the result reflects a split on the right more than a shift in the electorate back to the left. I thought that split might happen here back in 2015 and 2016, but the Republican party capitulated to Trump's popular appeal.
Based on the news that made it over here from across the pond, I thought Rishi Sunak was pitched to be a technocrat, but he seemed a bit unprepared for the job and never got out of campaign mode. If not for Cameron coming out of retirement to assuage the allies, his premiership might have looked worse.
I think the UK has two advantages over other European and NATO countries dealing with a rise in right nationalism. First, the major conservative political party is still in the hands of establishment conservatives. Second, the UK has been through Brexit and has experienced first hand the pain and pointlessness of economic disengagement.
The election in France perhaps deserves its own thread. It looks like a genius move by Macron to capitalize on the left's reaction to EU election results. But now he's got to hold together a big tent coalition which will be the biggest challenge of his life.
We need an American Macron.
rachel on 8/7/2024 at 14:09
Quote Posted by heywood
The election in France perhaps deserves its own thread. It looks like a genius move by Macron to capitalize on the left's reaction to EU election results. But now he's got to hold together a big tent coalition which will be the biggest challenge of his life.
We need an American Macron.
Macron is a self-absorbed narcissistic sociopath who time and again demonstrated he has no care whatsoever for the people outside of how useful they are to further his and his pals' goals. He has repeatedly shown an unbelievable level of contempt for lower and middle class citizens, made increasingly authoritarian rule a staple of his presidency over the years, forced laws through without parliament approval and violently suppressed protests against these policies, flirted with the far right, adopting their talking points to attract their vote. He impulsively gambled the fate of the entire country because the far right won the European elections like a freaking baby throwing a tantrum, and we came very, very close to losing it all. Sure he can stay smug now that the left did the dirty work for him,
once again, except this time maybe he'll pay attention and listen to our voices. Hopefully.
You do not need a Macron. His ilk are all about themselves, they don't give a shit about the little guy.
heywood on 8/7/2024 at 15:53
We need a Macron because we have a growing number of independent voters in the middle who aren't comfortable in either party anymore. There's no movement to organize them in this country so they don't have political power in proportion to their numbers.
I realize Macron is not a lefty, especially not economically. But for me right now, the priority is keeping world politics from regressing to the early 20th century and repeating those mistakes again. As an outsider, I see Macron and his movement as a stabilizing force.
