The Political Thread

[The Legendary Shark]

That's a bit of a simplistic view, Temponaut. Assuming that every politician, corporatist, media worker etc has to "sign up" to some huge, meticulously planned conspiracy is, quite frankly, ludicrous, and to hint that this is the only option demonstrates a lack of understanding which is both insulting and intellectually lazy.
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If you're expecting one big plan, say like Asimov's 'Foundation' novels, then you're ignoring all the facts and comforting yourself with an impossible fantasy simply in order that you can dismiss it without investing any thought or logic in the subject.
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This is not a meticulous and detailed step-by-step blueprint for domination with specific events planned decades or even centuries in advance - if that were the case you'd be asking me to believe that events like 9/11 and 7/7 have been fixed on the elites' calendars since the year dot, which is patently foolish. What it is, is more of a strategy with tried and tested methods of causing and manipulating events in the short term in order to achieve long term goals.
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Let's imagine I get a job in a factory making pins for fire extinguishers, which I find to be a worthwhile use of my time. But, what if those pins I'm so proud to be making are actually for hand grenades - how would I know? Very few people at the Acme Pin Company would actually know the true nature of the product - the top management and maybe a couple of others in accounts and possibly dispatch. Hundreds of people would be labouring under a lie with absolutely no idea of (or interest in) the actual truth.
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Literally thousands of people across scores of facilities working in several countries worked on the first atomic bomb with absolutely no idea what they were really doing, so don't try to tell me that what I think is going on (and yes, I am intelligent enough to entertain the possibility that I'm wrong and that I don't understand everything that's going on) is pure fantasy just because you trust your feelings instead of doing the research.
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Sorry, that sounds a bit harsh - and maybe it is - but I do get sick of people assuming that just because they see things a certain way then I must see the same things and be stupid for not reaching the same conclusions.
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Believe me, I'd love to be wrong and be shown that the world's the way it is by accident or evolution or God's will or whatever other people believe to give themselves comfort. The things I have learned, however, lead me to different conclusions.
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Calming down, now.
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Calming.
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Calming...

[The Legendary Shark]

Apologies for that outburst. It's no excuse but I'm under a lot of pressure at the moment and I am only human.

[The Legendary Shark]

Apologies for that outburst. It's no excuse but I'm under a lot of pressure at the moment and I am only human.

[Modern Panther]

No need for apologies, Sharky.  We all appreciate that you've been through a lot recently.

I certainly don't think that your stupid for not reaching the same conclusions as me, and sure, there are plenty of reasons to think that there are some fairly horrible and extremely powerful people on the world, who influence political policy and interfere with our lives. 

I think it's going too far to suggest that political parties are a creation, specifically designed to confuse us.  Political parties are just groups of individuals, and individuals are perfectly capable of shitty behavior without folk like the Koch brother pulling the strings.  Not to say they never pull any strings, of course they do, because they want to maintain their own power, but that doesn't equal a worldwide conspiracy. No-one needed to encourage the Nick Griffin's of the world to believe nasty things.

If the factory says it makes fire extinguisher pins, it most likely does.  There's probably another factory down the road which makes the hand grenade pins.  They won't have it written on the door, but they wont go out of their way to hide it.  People will still take their money and work on the factory floor.  A conspiracy against us is unnecessary.

[ZenArcade]

The difficulty is partially with political parties, as they are always going to be representative of their voter base. The main change over the past 25 -30 years has been the malign influence of organised lobbyist bodies. These bodies and the money they represent now mandate to a large extent who has a realistic chance of being elected. This was in the past most evident on the US system, but is now endemic throughout westren democracies. Political parties at the least pander to and court these bodies; and at worst are probably glove puppets for these interests.
The dificulty for all voter bases both in the right as well as the left is that the interests being pushed are globalised/supranational. This results in perceived national interests (welfare, health, education, workplace rights, defence, policing etc) being subordinated to interests which are not concamitant with democracy as most of us see it. Z

[Frank]

UK voter turnout in the EU elections was 36%, as opposed to 41% across the EU. And folk moan they don't want Brussels/Strasbourg telling them what to do ...

[COMMANDO FORCES]

The first results are in from the North East and the Tory Party chairman is using statistics from the past to try and brush it off.

[Frank]

The first results are in from the North East and the Tory Party chairman is using statistics from the past to try and brush it off.

UKIP came top in the Eastern region too.

[Trout]

Pointing a camera at an "eccentric" who might explode and kill a gay foreigner at any time is more likely to get viewers than pointing a camera at a member of the Green party, who just want us all to get along.

Common sense? On this thread? It'll never catch on.

[Steve Green]

Ah well, there's always France.

Oh.

[Frank]

Ah well, there's always France. Oh.

Given the nature of the established French parties, I can see why any alternative seems preferable.

[Richmond Clements]

It's a great time to be a Right Wing racist prick right now.

[Steve Green]

I thought it was the Year of the Horse.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Democracy, what a strange thing it can be!

[Frank]

It's a great time to be a Right Wing racist prick right now

Wasn't that UKIP's electoral slogan?