The Political Thread

[Rately]

This Impeachment is an utter shitshow from the Republicans. The sheer corruption. My God. And now Bolton's book about to drop.

[TordelBack]

As I understand it the argument is that the People elected Trump and love him dearly, and only the People have the right to get rid of him. Congress and the law isn't fit for purpose, and all this obstruction, manipulation and evasion is merely patriots respecting The Will of the People and frustrating the efforts of Traitors. All a tad familiar, TBH.

[Hawkmumbler]

I find it amusing his legal team have appealed to the courts on the pretence Trumps 2016 victory would be undemocratic in the eyes of "the majority who voted him into office".

They seem to have forgotten Trump lost the popular vote. My how just 37 months can make thick people forget.

[TordelBack]

I think the democractic primacy of the popular vote versus the Electoral College is probably moot: the electoral system is what it is (for now), you can drill all the way down into electoral divisions and processes and find enough quirks to convince you that none of it is remotely representative of the aggregate voter. 

As always with the kind of single-issue malarkey that Impeachment typifies, what I find fascinating is the complete dismissal of every other vote at every other level that selected the relevant parliament.  If you don't like the law of the land and what it requires, fair enough I suppose, it's probably largely out of your hands in the short term, but the House or Representatives/Commons/Dáil (and in the US the Senate too) are very much the choice of the voter - but that vote apparently no longer matters when some populist cause is afoot.

I wonder where it all ends, but if it wasn't for the bamboozling effects of media/social media, having seen how well Citizen's Assemblies have worked here of late* I'd still be sort-of hoping for a digital version of demarchy as the ultimate winner in the death match of representative versus direct democracy versus appeal to the Mob.


*And no, not just because of my fondness for Alastair Reynolds.

[Rately]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

[JayzusB.Christ]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

The BBC seem to have forgotten that the electorate aren't in fucking kindergarten.

[Dandontdare]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

heh, it's worth it for the comments!

[sheridan]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

heh, it's worth it for the comments!

But why is the inbred dog with breathing difficulties green?

[sheridan]

Actually, probably a side-effect of not getting enough oxygen...

[Rately]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

heh, it's worth it for the comments!

[von Boom]

https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1222081082323095552

Seriously? Just feck off!

heh, it's worth it for the comments!

I couldn't find the obligatory Churchill comment.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I almost felt sorry for her till I heard her speech at the end.  Nasty little goblin.  https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2020/01/31/katie-hopkins-tricked-into-accepting-nsfw-fake-award/

[Jim_Campbell]

For everyone feeling depressed/angry/upset/all of the above on "Brexit Day"... I'd urge you to read David Allen Green's (as always) eminently clear and sensible analysis of what this means (linked below).

The short version is: the referendum result is done. The Leavers can no longer bang on about "the will of the people" because they've got exactly what they voted for. The UK is no longer a member of the EU. Nothing else was provided for in the terms of that mandate so they will have to argue everything else on merit.

We 'lost', but everything else is in play now and the Brexiteers can no longer deflect counter-arguments with the cover-all "will of the people" nonsense.

For those of you not familiar with him, David Allen Green is a constitutional lawyer, a long-standing Eurosceptic but 'pragmatic remainer' (he believes that the sensible time to have come out of the EU was over Maastricht but that it's been too complex to bother with since then) and you'll find his thoughts here.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Can't find that link I'm afraid, Jim. I really want to read the article though
.

[Jim_Campbell]

Can't find that link I'm afraid, Jim. I really want to read the article though
.

Hmm. Sorry about that! The hyperlink on the word "here" at the end of my post seems to be working for me, but here's the full URL:

https://davidallengreen.com/2020/01/the-discharge-of-the-mandate-the-real-significance-of-brexit-day-31st-january-2020/