jonesa1 wrote:TheMotorcycleBoy wrote:Unless of course Jeeza has banned elections and replaced Parliament with the Politburo.
Matt
There's no need to ban elections, just make sure you always win them - e.g. extend the franchise to 16 year olds (you'd be amazed how much of the party propaganda my nieces, in their 20s, have swallowed), post-election transform to born-again remainers, retain free movement and allow EU nationals to vote. Marxists (and other extremists) usually try to game the electoral system once they are elected, I wouldn't expect this lot to be any different.
Regarding the prospect of extending the voting age down below 18, I have to say I recollect having little or no interest in, or knowledge of politics or the economic health of the country, when I was 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20. Agreed that's not to say that everyone of that age is the same, but I can't help thinking that youngsters in the age range up to 21 even, don't really have any experience or background knowledge of relevant facts, unless perhaps for example, they have studied politics. They have yet to see the bigger picture over many years and of many different political parties/governments.
On thursday or friday I watched a TV interviewer interviewing 3 students in the run up to the general election. The first one spoke of how she didn't like Corbin or what he stood for and didn't want him to be PM. Yet when she was asked who she would vote for, she said she would vote Labour, (because she liked her local MP, who said and did the right things). The second student, said she would vote Lib/Dems, as she saw them as a sensible middle ground, not as left wing as Labour, or as right wing as the Conservatives. The third student favoured Brexit and would vote Conservative.
I do think that lowering the voting age any lower would draw in youngsters would not really understand the issues, or would only have a very short-sighted view of issues close to themselves and who would be easily mislead by politicians. Look at Corbin's inducements about dispensing with student university fees at the last general election, a policy that he later conceded he couldn't have afforded to implement, but which certainly gained him votes. I think a voting age of 20/21 would have been more appropriate.
Moving back closer to the topic, the way the polls are showing, it doesn't look like Labour will get in, though I appreciate there could be danger from alliances and coalitions. So I am hopeful that none of McDonnell's extreme policies will be implemented.