Political Beliefs

[Gerard]

What political goals do you believe in?

Most people sit in a grey area of the policial spectrum, not completely agreeing with any specific ideology (such as conservatism). So where do you draw the line, what do you believe?

This poll is completely party-neutral and country-neutral. However, reply with which political parties you support in your country.

If you have any more suggestions for the poll, just add them in a reply.

[Thomas.]

I support the British Liberal Democrats. I prefer them because they are somewhere in between the Conservatives and Labour.

[Bear]

The political party I loathe the most is the BNP, they actually make me so angry. I know so many people who vote for them because they think the UK should be white. Also the BNP wants every immigrant out as they want it to be Native English (From the Ice Age) people which is rather stupid as I very much doubt anyone is.

[Thomas.]

At least 10% of the population is not British. You and I are probably native English, my best friend is Chinese. A lot of the UK is native, we could track it back centuries (my family has been tracked back to the 1500s England and Scotland), if that's what they mean by non-natives. I agree with you about the BNP, I hate them so bad and they have the audacity to kick all non-English, Scottish and Welsh people out of the UK. It's appalling. On top of that, I want the UK to remain part of the EU.

[Bear]

I'm not native English, I'm an immigrant. Hardly anyone is Native English if you think of it Romans, Saxons (Germans), Normans (French) and so on.

[Thomas.]

You also have the Celts (Ireland), Picts (Northern Scotland) and the Norse (Norway, Sweden and Denmark). What I think they mean is people who have:

1. Been born in the United Kingdom

2. Have parents who were born in the United Kingdom

3. Has had a family who is of British heritage or lived in Great Britain for about a century.

[Bear]

I'm buggered then.

A couple of months ago they wanted to stop all imports and exports and just have British products. Which to me is just a silly idea, this may have changed. I read this on their website. They also wanted to bring back capitol punishment (murderers and peadophiles)and corporal punishment.

[Gerard]

I personally disagree with a lot of labour policy, and prefer a lot of conservative policy (and methods). However, I don't identify my political views as being conservative (republican) - I'm certainly liberal and democratic, but it doesn't always align like that.

The politicians themselves are all boring talentless lawyers (except Boris Johnson). So this year I would vote Conservative.

I know a few labour politicians, and they are all absolute twats. One ex-councillor I know is the most arrogant person ever, and actively hates everyone who disagrees with him, and has launched personal vendettas on people including myself. He is the main reason I would not vote Labour. He got beaten by the BNP at the following election, which just shows how shit he really is.

[Thomas.]

I doubt the BNP will ever be in power, they can't run the party let alone the country. If the people of the UK have any common sense, it's that nobody can trust the BNP. It'd be Nazi Germany all over again, except with persecution of all ethnic minorities.

@ Gerard: That guy is the exact opposite of a democratic politician. I thought politicians of our country were meant to discuss the views of the people, not of themselves. This is one of the reasons I don't like Labour.

[Gerard]

The BNP is a silly party, however they are tapping into a legitimate public concern. People think that this country is going to the dogs, that it's being overrun by immigrants who are let in for no reason and given benefits & housing completely free.

In reality, immigrants are a vital part of our economy. They provide stimulation and competition in our Capitalist culture, and many immigrants are willing to work cheaply in crap/demeaning jobs. However, this does mean there is extra competition for jobs, and there is a strain on resources such as housing and healthcare.

I personally think we should slow down immigration and sort out the country. We can grow when we're ready, and right now we aren't. I also think that there should be stricter criteria for entry - such as professional skills. I think immigrants coming here to work is great, but coming here to live off our state welfare is just rude. The UK can't be the home of the entire world - if they wanted our governance and lifestyle, then they shouldn't have claimed independence from us.

There are some silly policies in place, such as that they don't have to pay tax, and yet they get more/better benefits more easily than most people who have paid tax in the UK all their lives. Doesn't really add up to me.

The most annoying thing is that if anyone says "no more immigrants", they are branded as racist. This stops the main political parties from taking a stand, and leaves actually-racist parties like the BNP to take the votes, which would make things much worse down the line.

[Thomas.]

I don't mind European Citizens immigrating to the UK as long as they've taken the effort to learn English. It should be tightened for European Union Citizens anyway. When I walk the streets almost everyday, it's now impossible to see various different ethnicities like people from India, Pakistan and, increasingly, China. These are the countries that are beginning to cause problems for the UK, especially China who itself has a population of over a billion.

Both Pakistan and India were once a part of the British Empire but declared independence in the Early to Mid 20th century, back then I doubt they had realised how being a part of Britain was as vital as it is now. Pakistan is a backwards country and people are rapidly fleeing it and the reasons we are getting the amount of people we are is because their countries are swelling due to the sheer amount of people in them.

But if we were to make it harder for these cultures to get in then we'd have to do it for all cultures (except European whom we have an agreement with; we'd have to leave the EU before closing the borders to European which I doubt will happen). The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand get far more lenient requirements for becoming British citizens because of 1) their status and 2) their history. If restrictions were laid out then we'd find it hard to become citizens in those countries.

The BNP cannot simply close the borders. They probably wouldn't close the border's for people leaving the country but other countries will not want a citizen of a country whose government doesn't let many other cultures in.

[Red_91]

I support the British Liberal Democrats. I prefer them because they are somewhere in between the Conservatives and Labour.

I used to like the Lib Dems, but then Nick Clegg was caught up in the expenses scandal and had to pay money back (not sure about the amount) which totally ruined him for me, lost his integrity.

I am going to vote conservative (now that I am 18) mainly because I think they have more knowledge about how to really re-ignite the economy, not have a quick fix but for the long term. Labours pre-budget report was a joke to be quite honest, taxes are going to rise a lot and not that much debt will be reduced and we will have to pay tax on stupid things such as Broadband which we shouldn't have to. Plus David Cameron is the only one who survived the expense scandal and had the most integrity after it all came out, to me I reckon he wont do a bad job. The problem is though he can't satisfy or please everyone.

[Bear]

I will probably vote for Conservative as I think Labour is ruining this country with its silly laws when ignoring the bigger problem. I think with immigration we should be strict like Australia and let the people who have a skill that we need in. I think being able to speak decent English is important as there are many people who have lived her for a long time but still can't speak the language.

I really think the benefit system needs to be sorted out as there are so many people taking advantage of the system. Someone in uni has an aunt who is on benefits because she won't work as she has children one is nine and the other is 15, she won't even get part time work. I think that is wrong, she may be a single parent but so was my and she worked and I have done well. The argument was that if you don't want to work then you shouldn't. I think alot of people believe in that now.

[TG187]

Your politicians sound a bit boring, sorry to say this. Listen one whole day to our politicians, what they say, how they act, what they do and so and you will be amazed, very amazed. Its like a comedy movie only that is in a bigger scale and as characters there are politicians and journalists.

Right now, after the election ended and we have a new President ( the same old one ) the tension is much more higher, and funny.

Anyhow, what is bad is that nothing was done to stop the Economic Crisis....it is still going like madness. The Government had fallen like 2 months ago because the 2 biggest parties in the country that were in the government had a fight and one of them left....they did nothing to stop it....

Edited December 15, 2009 by TG187

[Thomas.]

What's also bad is the fact that our generation will be the ones cleaning up the mess made by the generation above us.

[_Ray]

[TG187]

What's also bad is the fact that our generation will be the ones cleaning up the mess made by the generation above us.

This is very true.

[_Ray]

Don't take any of this personal, but here's an overview of all my views of politics.

As far as ethics and morals go, I'm about as conservative as you can get.

For government, I think that the popular vote needs to be enacted more, not just elected some guy and having him take over the whole country. Local government is very important in my opinion. Like our constitution says, the Federal government is responsible for controlling interstate commerce, not intrastate commerce, as is currently happening. Free trade and a government by the people and for the people is what this country is based on.

On the issue of the economy, I'm mostly in the middle, but I don't agree with most of what we did in our big Bailout bill.

The environment, to the surprise of most of you, I'm pretty liberal on this one. I think that pollution, and using up resources is a major problem, along with our dependence of foreign oil. However, I don't believe in global warming. For his Master's Thesis in Atmospheric Science, my Father wrote a paper on how the same factors that cause global warming can also cause global cooling, which was published in a Scientific Journal in Colorado roughly 15 years ago.

Immigration, I'm pretty mixed. I like all the people coming here, but don't expect us all to cater to you if you can't speak English, like the gov't's idea about making Spanish learning mandatory in schools.

I don't think Christianity should be taught in schools, but when Obama tells the Turkish leader that we're not a Christian nation, he's smoking shit. Our country was founded on a Judeo-Christian basis, and one of Washington's most important goals was to make sure that every school had a bible in it. It doesn't need to be forced on the students, but the tools should be there.

For the war over in Iraq and Afghanistan, I saw bomb them all. (Sorry, that's really what I think) Giving the 911 terrorists a full rights trial in NY is beyond ridiculous. It was ruthless, unprovoked act of terrorism on the very idea of what our country was founded on.

Police need to be given more power, along with a stricter judicial system. Gun Control needs to be loosened however. Every citizen of the US has the right to own a gun. That was one of the ten most important things written into our constitution. The right to bear arms is basically like one of the Ten Commandments of the constitution.

Welfare needs to be cut down a lot, and many people need to get off their lazy asses and go get a job.

Government spending and ruthless taxing to make up for it needs to stop before China ends up owning our country because of all the debt we've funneled into them.

As for technology, the Government needs to spend less money on worthless shit such as a few million bucks to study some fish in a stream in San Francisco, along with dehydrating all of California and ruining their local farm market in order to funnel water to save a couple thousand of those fish, that live in plenty of other places and won't go extinct.

Education laws need to be enforced, being more strict to make sure that everybody goes to school. Money needs to be put in (Despite everything else they've spent money on, they forgot this) to help repair schools and get better, stricter teachers.

The government should not be socializing our country by buying stocks in companies and taking over the Healthcare system.

You all already know what I think about abortion and why, I'm not gonna elaborate.

As far as big corporations go, our laws against monopoly and trusts (etc . . .) will do just fine without all the extra regulation bologna. (Bologna . . . )

[Gerard]

@Raybob

The popular vote is not quite as good as you may think. The public react to spin and the media a lot, and there's no way that the "real" facts can be communicated clearly every time to every single voter without someone twisting them. Of course not everyone would vote, but even so it only takes one dodgy newspaper article or blog or TV show to change the result. One celebrity says "vote yes" and millions follow suit because they believe the one-sided argument they hear. Referenda are best to be used occasionally when there can be a lot of media coverage - one a month would be stupid.

That thesis sounds pretty good, but I'm sure there are a thousand theses in scientific journals that convincingly explain the opposing view. This is a good example of where one side of the story is so convincing that you don't feel the need to listen to the other side. In truth there is a big 'maybe' over global warming, and the chances are that no estimates will be right, but I really don't think it's as devastating as the media/government are making out.

The language issue is also annoying. Some road signs in Britain are actually written in Polish as well as English, in areas of high immigration. We need to cater for multicultural visitors, and enable immigrants to learn English. Nothing more than that.

Both the US and UK have strong Christian histories, and our laws and traditions are Christian in nature, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we need to continue to be Christian to keep those. However, I'd much rather everyone become Christian than another religion; such as the Muslim Sharia law which keeps getting pushed for integration into British law. If they want a muslim country, go to a muslim country. This country is different because of its Christianity and its history.

You can't really say "bomb them all". It's not as if everyone in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Russia, China and North Korea are terrorists or evil. Sure the governments may be evil, and lots of freedom-fighters and religious extremists may be terrorists, but you can't just bomb the entire countries without killing millions of innocent civilians. That would be evil.

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK works pretty well, although since it isn't profit-making, it doesn't have much money. It's just a case of where anyone who is ill gets treated, paid for by tax - and it's such a simple system. Yes it means the people who work are paying for the people who can't, but that's an acceptable amount of state welfare. Having companies who refuse to treat people based on their credit rating, and poor families forced to spend thousands of dollars on basic medical treatment is evil. Just replace insurance+profit with tax, and you'd wipe out a lot of the greed in the system, and it would be massively fairer.

As for gun ownership, it's very simple. In the US gun crime is a problem, in the UK it is not. Sure, organised criminals have guns, but that's about it (and has nothing to do with the law). Even the police do not carry guns here - and the specialist armed response units very rarely fire any shots. Guns do NOT help civilised society. However, they are necessary in the US because everyone else has one.

[_Ray]

You can't really say "bomb them all". It's not as if everyone in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Russia, China and North Korea are terrorists or evil. Sure the governments may be evil, and lots of freedom-fighters and religious extremists may be terrorists, but you can't just bomb the entire countries without killing millions of innocent civilians. That would be evil.

That's what we did with Japan in World War 2, and brought a quick end to the war.

Had we not, I guarantee that lots more innocent civilians would have died from the effects of the continuing war.

And you know what else? The tax here is ridiculous.

I live in a moderate income family, and ~33% of my Dad's paycheck was taken out for taxes.

[Gerard]

Japan is a lot smaller than Afghanistan, never mind all those countries put together.

Oh let's not forget that half of those countries could fight back pretty effectively, wiping out most of the US at the press of a button.

Missile interception is so sensitive now, that if the US launched some atomic missiles, Russia could launch lots long before the US missile got there. Missile interception is advanced but unproven, so millions would die on both sides.

[_Ray]

And sorry for the double post, but again, I don't have an edit button because I'm a dickhead who got half my rights taken away. Oh well!

On the topic of firearms, I do think that pistols and other handguns should still be fairly well controlled. But the people who own a .22 caliber rifle for small game hunting, recreational shooting out in the field behind their house, our even just a cool old gun to look at, should not have their guns taken away.

[Thomas.]

I was watching a documentary about the Columbine attacks about 10 years ago. It detailed the far fetched differences between the United States (example used in the documentary was Michigan) and Canada (the example here was Windsor). Both Michigan and Windsor have a river and an international border separating both countries. On the Michigan side there is a safety issue in regards to guns, people have to lock their houses whereas in Windsor, Canada there is not a safety issue with regards to gun crime, and people don't need to lock their doors. The shows how backwards the United States is on gun control, almost half the population of the United States own a gun of some sort.

Homicides by gun (% of all homicides):

• United States: 65%
• England and Wales: 8%
• Canada: 34%
• Australia: 16%
• New Zealand: 13%

Perhaps if nations followed the United Kingdom's way of handling with gun crime, there might not be such as big a problem with guns in particular countries. Canada is in a unique position being neighbours of the United States whereas the others mainly follow British or Commonwealth Law.

[Bear]

I don't think guns are needed in every home. We dont have a gun problem but we do have a major knife problem. The problem is our justice system is bizarre, someone can get sent to prison for a few months because they didn't they used their hose in a water shortage yet there was a case when an illegal immigrant killed a child while drug driving and his sentence was to pay £200 for damage to a council tree, that was it.

[_Ray]

I don't think guns are needed in every home. We dont have a gun problem but we do have a major knife problem. The problem is our justice system is bizarre, someone can get sent to prison for a few months because they didn't they used their hose in a water shortage yet there was a case when an illegal immigrant killed a child while drug driving and his sentence was to pay £200 for damage to a council tree, that was it.

Which is why we need a stronger judicial system.

There is no need for knives in every home, (other than kitchen knives of course ) just what I said before.