Stories like this are from the school of thought that assumes all politicians are on the make or easy to influence in a malign way.
What is your problem with this position? It is the correct, default, position to take.
Stories like this are from the school of thought that assumes all politicians are on the make or easy to influence in a malign way.
What is your problem with this position? It is the correct, default, position to take.
Perhaps you would oblige us by running through the top UKIP names, and telling us which of them is on the make, and which is easy to influence in a malign way. And if you win in the European elections, which will you be?
Tim adss: “default position” means that’s where you start from, not where you end up…..
When a Government is controlling (say) 50% of a nation’s business, it is going to be pretty difficult to have any personal relationships that do not have some form of overlap between policy and those affected.
Tim,
I’m afraid that’s not my default position; the problem is the party system.
Political parties are no different from street gangs. The often genuine goodwill with which individuals join parties is almost always crushed by the gang’s need to advance its own interests. The gangs get to decide who you should vote for – a ridiculous idea if ever there was one. The interests behind the gangs often have a higher degree of influence upon affairs than those from whom the tribute called taxation is extracted by the threat of force. If no law can be passed to stamp the gangs out , then they should all be ASBO’d.
Martin,
Without party whips, wouldn’t we end up with the US problem of earmarks, where each bill has numerous special interest clauses added to spend money on each representative’s pet project?
That’s not to say that is automatically worse…
I don’t think so; for in my ideal world there would be no income tax, no corporation tax, no taxes of any kind. In a sovereign UK outwith the EU, the state’s income would be derived from a tariff of 40% on imported goods. The size of government would have to eb adjusted accordingly. As someone once said, why are incomes taxed at 40% when goods come in for free, when incoming goods could be taxed at 40% and peoples’ incomes could be free?
Seems like a no-brainer.