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We can’t just snap our fingers and fix Britain

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We can’t just snap our fingers and fix Britain Empty We can’t just snap our fingers and fix Britain

Post by TexasBlue Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:34 am

We can’t just snap our fingers and fix Britain

David Cameron
Timesonline.uk
April 13, 2010


One week in, and it is clear this election campaign is not engaging millions of people in our country. Voters see politicians shouting at each other but seeming to offer few solutions to the problems that plague the nation. And as I travel the country it is clear that the boiling anger over the expenses scandal remains raw, barely submerged below the surface of the debate.

I have sympathy with the voters. They have not heard their biggest questions being answered. They have not seen evidence of the biggest problems being tackled. And Labour’s manifesto changed nothing yesterday, offering a tired and familiar diet: the same old story, dressed up in a new cover. They have failed to learn the lessons of the seismic events that erupted under Westminster a year ago.

Our challenge is to show that we are different. That we have learnt the lessons of the past, and have the ideas and determination to renew the bonds of trust between politicians and voters. We must reunite the country, re-engage the voters and redesign the way we do politics. We cannot afford to have another five years of despair and disillusionment from a fed-up electorate.

This is why I don’t want to win the election for my sake, so that I can sit in the driving seat of power in Downing Street. I want to win the election for your sake — to put you in the driving seat, so you have the power to take the decisions that affect the life of your family and your community. This is the philosophy that underpins everything we have done for the past five years since I became leader of my party, and it underscores everything I want us to achieve over the next five years.

Gordon Brown’s legacy is a nation saddled with massive problems: the debts that threaten our country with bankruptcy; the disillusionment with our political system, dragged down by sleaze and scandal; the despair of the unemployed, of families stuck on welfare, of parents seeing their children’s future put at risk by poor schools; the growing inequality that so shames a Labour government.

But unlike Mr Brown and his exhausted Government, I don’t accept that we must plod on in the same direction. I am ambitious for our country. I am optimistic that we can work out our problems. And I refuse to subscribe to the idea that we should accept economic and social decline. I believe that we can overcome anything if we all pull together.

So the manifesto we are publishing today is a comprehensive and cohesive plan to change Britain for the better. It will change Westminster and Whitehall for ever. It is a blueprint for reform that is rich in policy but rooted in a core idea of replacing state control with social responsibility.

But it is not a traditional manifesto. We are not saying that we will solve all your problems and, with a snap of the fingers, create a better Britain out of thin air. Because I don’t believe it is in the power of politicians to do this. And in truth, all those phoney pledges and simplistic promises have contributed to voters’ cynicism when it comes to politics.

So instead, we are asking you to join in the government of your nation. We want everyone to get involved in the running of their country. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you want — we are offering you a heartfelt invitation to join with us and help change Britain for the better.

So if you are a parent wanting a better education for your children, we will give you the power to get better schools. If you work in the public sector, we will give you the power to set up a co-operative with your colleagues and deliver a better service. If you want to set up a business, we will give you the power to start up, take people on and not be crushed by red tape and taxes. If you want a better government, we will give you the power to scrutinise what politicians are spending to help to stamp out waste and inefficiency.

At every level, we will take power away from politicians and bureaucrats and hand it back to individuals, families and communities. We will use modern technology to empower people, because we are from a generation that is comfortable with openness and accountability. And if we succeed, if we can change the way this country is run and harness the strength of the people, then we really can make things better. For all of us. We can have a better government, with less wasted money and a more contented country.

The world is changing fast. We cannot afford to be stuck in the past, with a government wedded to the failed old ideas of command and control. We have changed our party. Now we want to change the country — with your help.
TexasBlue
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:03 pm

I don't doubt that Cameron is being sincere but the problem for people over here is that he is too reminiscent of Tony Blair. We've heard it all before. At the moment there is very little between Labour and Conservative with both having moved more toward the centre in the last 10 years.

Cameron also has the uphill struggle of dispelling Thatcherism once and for all. There is no way in hell I am voting Labour but at the same time I see no good reason to vote Tory either. He is certainly saying the right things to appeal to people like me but right now he isn't floating my boat. We don't really need the Liberal Democrats brand of politics right now either. It is easy for them to be frivolous in a time of economic boom and that is when people would tend to listen to them more. Like Cameron, I don't doubt that Nick Clegg is being sincere but it is the wrong party to be voting for just to make a point. However, that said, we are in a unique situation with our current economic cliamte. Yes, people want the government to be fiscally conservative but at the same time people are blaming a careless and greedy market for this economic crisis. People are now torn between wanting government to regulate business to prevent the unfettered greed that caused this to happen, and to spend taxes a little more wisely than the government was doing before so I can see the Lib-Dem making some real gains this year. A hung Parliament is a very real prospect and in my mind, not necessarily a bad thing.

Personally I am convinced that the best thing for me to do right now is to register my disappointment with the mainstream by voting for a smaller party. I did it in 2005 and I have no qualms about doing it again.
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Post by TexasBlue Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:10 pm

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:We don't really need the Liberal Democrats brand of politics right now either. It is easy for them to be frivolous in a time of economic boom and that is when people would tend to listen to them more.

That's right. And that's what has the right all pissed of over here right now. If we were booming, there wouldn't be as much outcry. Clinton benefited from that.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Personally I am convinced that the best thing for me to do right now is to register my disappointment with the mainstream by voting for a smaller party. I did it in 2005 and I have no qualms about doing it again.

That could bite you in the @ss this year. In my case, i'm voting straight Republican this fall. I hate to... but from what i've seen of Democrats this year, they can't be allowed to continue. I may still vote Libertarian in the state elections. Federal is another story.

Just think about it in your situation.
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:09 pm

Oh I have. I want Labour out but the prospect of Tory in doesn't fill me with glee. I can see some of our smaller parties making some gains this year like the EDP, UKIP and as much as I hate to say it... the BNP too.
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Post by TexasBlue Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:17 pm

Maybe it's a bit different there than here in regards to 3rd, 4th party's. Here, a 3rd party is seen as a vote throw away and it's probably true for the most part whereas in the UK, the 3rd party isn't seen quite that way.
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:16 am

Our smaller parties regularly do win Parliamentary seats and in some cases, they can get quite a number. Rarely enough to win overall power but often enough to keep the bigger parties on their toes. Besides, there is some talk of Parliamentary reform before the next election (2014 or 15. We don't have set dates, an election can be called any time but it must not exceed 5 years since the last. Most elections take place usually four years, sometimes five years since the previous one) and that reform will hopefully give a little more sway to the smaller parties.
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Post by TexasBlue Wed Apr 14, 2010 11:18 am

What works for you guys is that the 3rd, 4th party's can, and do, make the major two party's honest. We don't have that. If Libertarians could gain seats here, they'd keep the Dems/Pubs on their own toes and expose them for what they are.
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Wed Apr 14, 2010 11:48 am

The Libertarian Party don't have any seats?! For the Lib-Dem party to have no seats here would be as unthinkable as them being in power! Smaller parties than them also have seats and sometimes people who stand on their own as independent candidates have won and sat in Parliament.
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Post by TexasBlue Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:16 pm

Nope. Libertarians don't have seats in congress. One day they will but not now. We have nothing but Dems/Pubs in congress and two independents. The two independents vote with the Dems mostly. Joe Lieberman (ex-Dem) Connecticut and Bernie Sanders (who is an actual card carrying socialist) from Vermont. Both are senators.
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:19 pm

We used to have a three party system. The Liberal Party, Labour and Conservatives. All have been in government at some point though The Liberal Party haven't been in power since before WW2. They merged with the Social Democratic Party in the 1980s to form the modern The Liberal Democrat Party.
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Post by TexasBlue Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:38 pm

Wow.

We've had the two party's since the beginning. There was the Democratic-Republicans that morphed into today's Democrat Party. On the GOP side, they were called Federalists, National Republicans, Whigs and then they became the Republican Party in 1855.
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Post by The_Amber_Spyglass Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:13 pm

lol, the Whigs. Go back to the early days of our Parliamentary system and we had two parties. Tories (who later became the Conservatives - btw, "Tory" is an old English word that means "thief") and the Whigs. The Whigs didn't really dissolve as I understand it, but they accepted a lot of liberally minded Tories and became the early Liberal Party whereas the staunch traditionalists went on to form the modern Conservative Party.
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Post by TexasBlue Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:01 pm

Yeah, it's funny where names derive from. Some of the stuff people said and referred to back in the old days strike me as hilarious nowadays.
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