Tuesday, May 03, 2011
YES! To AV – 4
After my 1st, 2nd and 3rd reasons to vote YES! to the Alternative Vote on Thursday, here’s number 4. You know that, thanks to the current system, in over two thirds of all seats the current MP “won” last year despite over half of their voters voting against them. Well, it’s worse than that in a lot of seats: though most people rejected them, some of these ‘biggest losers’ remain so safe they get jobs for life. But AV means those two thirds of MPs have to work harder, and the ‘safe’ ones suddenly get shocked out of their smugness.
Because AV is an evolutionary change, not a revolutionary one, it’s not quite powerful to eliminate every ‘safe seat’. But it’s worth voting YES! to our one chance for change to shake up most of them! Some MPs will always work hard, and listen to you no matter who voted for them. And some will be forced to do so because the result in their seat was quite close. But there are a lot in the middle who can sit back and be sure that they’re never going to lose their seat, because even quite sizeable majorities against them are so disorganised between different parties. AV kicks away that unfair prop by letting your preferences get organised enough to kick them out. If you’re the MP in the two thirds of seats where most people voted for someone else and you want to keep your seat, “first past the post” means you can sit back, vote the party line and not listen to anyone but your Leader. If you want to keep your seat under AV, you have to work harder at listening to your voters.
Which would you rather? MPs only listening to each other, or being forced to listen to you? Vote YES! to fairer votes to make MPs work harder.
The safer the MP and the less they have to listen to you, the fact is that the more they ripped you off in that big expenses scandal a couple of years ago. The safer they are and the more they can get away with just trousering their ‘safe’ cash from the taxpayer without working for it, the more likely they are even to take extra jobs when they’re supposed to be working for you, to coin even more cash! It’s common sense – if they think they’ve got a job for life, they don’t care what you think about them. Well, AV makes a lot of those ‘safe’ MPs suddenly scared for their jobs.
Say YES! to fairer votes make your MP scared for their job and keep their fingers out of the till!
I’ve just turned on the telly and seen historian Dan Snow explain simply how AV makes the majority heard. It’s common sense – if you want to get elected, you should need to reach out to the majority in your seat, and AV’s fairer votes make you. Remember that simple illustration of how it works:
Vote YES! to stop MPs being complacent, to cut back their jobs for life, and force them to start listening to you!
With the No Campaign telling nothing but lies, more lies and more lies still because they can’t come up with a case in favour of the current broken system, there are too many lies for me to deal with all in one post. But, unlike me, Paddy Ashdown is brilliant, so he can manage it – read how Paddy takes on the lies and negative campaigning and gives them a damned good thrashing.
Not completely convinced yet to vote #Yes2AV? Try 1 of my other YES! reasons. Or 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 or 8…!
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Because AV is an evolutionary change, not a revolutionary one, it’s not quite powerful to eliminate every ‘safe seat’. But it’s worth voting YES! to our one chance for change to shake up most of them! Some MPs will always work hard, and listen to you no matter who voted for them. And some will be forced to do so because the result in their seat was quite close. But there are a lot in the middle who can sit back and be sure that they’re never going to lose their seat, because even quite sizeable majorities against them are so disorganised between different parties. AV kicks away that unfair prop by letting your preferences get organised enough to kick them out. If you’re the MP in the two thirds of seats where most people voted for someone else and you want to keep your seat, “first past the post” means you can sit back, vote the party line and not listen to anyone but your Leader. If you want to keep your seat under AV, you have to work harder at listening to your voters.
Which would you rather? MPs only listening to each other, or being forced to listen to you? Vote YES! to fairer votes to make MPs work harder.
The safer the MP and the less they have to listen to you, the fact is that the more they ripped you off in that big expenses scandal a couple of years ago. The safer they are and the more they can get away with just trousering their ‘safe’ cash from the taxpayer without working for it, the more likely they are even to take extra jobs when they’re supposed to be working for you, to coin even more cash! It’s common sense – if they think they’ve got a job for life, they don’t care what you think about them. Well, AV makes a lot of those ‘safe’ MPs suddenly scared for their jobs.
Say YES! to fairer votes make your MP scared for their job and keep their fingers out of the till!
I’ve just turned on the telly and seen historian Dan Snow explain simply how AV makes the majority heard. It’s common sense – if you want to get elected, you should need to reach out to the majority in your seat, and AV’s fairer votes make you. Remember that simple illustration of how it works:
Vote YES! to stop MPs being complacent, to cut back their jobs for life, and force them to start listening to you!
No To Lies, More Lies and More Lies Still (Part III)
With the No Campaign telling nothing but lies, more lies and more lies still because they can’t come up with a case in favour of the current broken system, there are too many lies for me to deal with all in one post. But, unlike me, Paddy Ashdown is brilliant, so he can manage it – read how Paddy takes on the lies and negative campaigning and gives them a damned good thrashing.
Not completely convinced yet to vote #Yes2AV? Try 1 of my other YES! reasons. Or 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 or 8…!
Labels: British Politics, Corruption, Paddy Ashdown, Referendum
