Steven—you’re making way too many assumptions here. No Joe Bloggs wouldn’t get voted in, but that’s not what the original post is talking about, nor yesterday’s reference to Colbert. Nor is it my point. The point is that there are a number of practically insurmountable obstacles/safeguards in between Joe Bloggs and the voter even getting a say, and for most people this doesn’t even mean anything. They get a list of names of Ordained Front Runners from on high, and debate them without a thought as to where they came from.
“The parties/media don’t support Bloggs because he wouldn’t win if they did.”
Who makes that call? It’s not you and it’s not me. It’s the editor looking to sell newspapers. It’s the execs on Fox News. The media and the parties exert massive influences. I’m not bemoaning this as a disgusting blight on democracy, I’m just saying that while we may have to recognise that this is the Way Things Work, we shouldn’t forget that it’s the case.
Nick—your first couple of points look sounds to me. Would you clear up what it is that gets ‘influenced’ for us please? Is this their ideology? Their manifesto? Their slogan?
Steven—you’re making way too many assumptions here. No Joe Bloggs wouldn’t get voted in, but that’s not what the original post is talking about, nor yesterday’s reference to Colbert. Nor is it my point. The point is that there are a number of practically insurmountable obstacles/safeguards in between Joe Bloggs and the voter even getting a say, and for most people this doesn’t even mean anything. They get a list of names of Ordained Front Runners from on high, and debate them without a thought as to where they came from.
“The parties/media don’t support Bloggs because he wouldn’t win if they did.”
Who makes that call? It’s not you and it’s not me. It’s the editor looking to sell newspapers. It’s the execs on Fox News. The media and the parties exert massive influences. I’m not bemoaning this as a disgusting blight on democracy, I’m just saying that while we may have to recognise that this is the Way Things Work, we shouldn’t forget that it’s the case.
Nick—your first couple of points look sounds to me. Would you clear up what it is that gets ‘influenced’ for us please? Is this their ideology? Their manifesto? Their slogan?