A revolution in the way Britain does politics has begun in Devon. Tory MPs should be afraid
A revolution in the way Britain does politics has begun in Devon. Tory MPs should be afraid
There’s an urgent need for a fairer electoral system – and if politicians won’t make it happen, the people will, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
Next step, we should start dragging guillotines in street protests.
If europe starts to feel very french now, that's probably a good thing.
I'm annoyed by the plethora of different ways we are coming up with to try and eject unwanted Tories. There are multiple websites and different innovations like this, all of which will just serve to split the vote in different directions. Can we centralise our decentralisation?
Sounds like an entrenchment of the two party system to me
I can see how these "people's primaries" will eventually form one big tent progressive party
“A political revolution has begon” and “tickets sold out in just two days” don’t really make sense together.
I tried to get tickets to the revolution, but scalpers got there before me. It's outrageous.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This is what democracy looks like: hundreds of people queueing in the rain, seeking to take back control of a political system that treats voters like an afterthought.
A process that began here in South Devon and is now spreading to other constituencies has allowed voters to reclaim the initiative from centralised and self-interested political parties.
Whatever the results at the general election, this is already a victory of sorts: bringing people back into the political process, showing how democracy could become a living proposition, rather than a dry and curling parchment locked behind a portcullis with chains.
The spending (which is very small, as the primaries are created and run by volunteers) takes place before the champion is chosen, so, as the Electoral Commission has confirmed, doesn’t eat into the candidates’ capped election budgets.
The Isle of Wight East constituency, after the refusal of both Labour and the Lib Dems to play, is designing a new process that doesn’t rely on their involvement.
We’ll still be stuck with a centralised and coercive politics, unmatched to the needs of the complex system we call society, based on the illegitimate concepts of presumed consent and remote decision-making.
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