Off Topic Politics Thread

Pretty sure one of the reasons HS2 was scrapped was because there is no money for HS2.

 

Yes, but throwing more money isn’t the answer.

Root and stem solutions are required before we even think about spending more money on stuff imo.

Same across the board. Imagine you have a bucket of water that’s leaking. Pouring more water in doesn’t really help. You have to fix the leak.

The tax burden is already overwhelming on the majority of working people. In my opinion we are in a silent/hidden depression - especially for those under 30.

 

Where do I sit on the political spectrum? Used to be centre, but the Overton window has shifted so far left, people now consider me right.
For me; the smaller the government the better. A state/government’s nature is to only ever expand and seek more power. It’s important to stop this from happening.
What are the three issues most important to me? Economy, Safety, Global Peace
What are my views on immigration? Controlled, low, properly vetted immigration is a positive for any country. I believe that everyone is equal and anyone who works hard is welcome and deserves respect. For decades we let in under 100k people per yer. This was sustainable. However, what is happening in recent times is completely unsustainable and should annoy every taxpayer. It truly baffles me that people are ok with how much money is wasted on this. UK tax payers are treated as second class citizens in their own country.
What are my views on taxation? Immoral. Tax should be as small as possible to provide basic services. Free markets will always allocate capital better than government bureaucracy. There is overwhelming evidence that central control does not work.
(To sum up; if someone pays a 100% tax rate, they are a slave. The % tax you pay determines how much of a slave you are)
What are my views on green issues? The climate is changing, but this is due to factors outside human control. The climate crisis is a scam designed to steal wealth from working people and decree more government control and overrreach.
What are my views on foreign affairs? I only really care about foreign affairs that have a direct influence on my life. We are a vassal state to America, both financially and military, so it’s important to keep an eye there. The EU is a corrupt, dying institution full of narcissistic communists who hate working people.
What are my views on big corporations and regulation? Very difficult to answer. In general I think regulators and governments should get the **** out of the way of entrepreneurs.
I essentially see the state is the enemy of freedom, creativity and productivity.
With that being said; I am aware of how evil large corporations can be. They are how at the point where they wield too much power. I think a hard money standard would remove their power. However in the current system, regulation seems to be the only real way to protect workers.
What are my views on state workers, particularly police, nurses, and teachers? Heroes, mostly. Asked to do too much, for too little. This is largely because of our socialist policies. Police, especially, should be protected. The recent trend of throwing police under the bus sickens me and I think Sadiq Khan should be forced to resign for his recent comments.
However, there is also an alarming trend in arresting people for tweets. I am concerned the police is ideologically captured at the top level with left wing political agendas.
What are my views on the NHS? There are many problems with America’s healthcare system, but their nurses and doctors get paid a fair amount. I believe there must be a happy medium between our broken socialist system and a completely ruthless system like America’s.
I have worked in the NHS first hand and this is what radicalised me that things must change. The current NHS will die, it’s just a matter of time.
Also - we should charge foreigners for using the NHS. We should not pay hundreds of millions on translators for people.
In summary; The NHS should be a LOT more selfish toward British taxpayers.
What are my views on private education and healthcare? Can only be a good thing. If people have money to pay for better services, obviously they should. Eases burden on taxpayer too. The recent labour changes are moronic.
What are my views on trans issues? I respect people’s right to do whatever they like, but common sense has disappeared. We don’t need to change the country for the sake of less than 1% of the population. I also don’t think it should be glorified in the way that we are seeing. Certainly not in schools. I think a lot of harm is being done to people by glamourising it.
What are my views on religion? I believe our society was only possible because of Christianity. I don’t understand why people get called racist for criticising Islam, but not Christianity in this country.
What are my views on rights over your own body (abortion, suicide, assisted dying)? To each their own. Assisted dying is ok for terminally ill people and ****philes.
Abortion should be early term only though, not stretched out like the dems want. I think our policy on this in the UK is very good. Side note though; I think abortions and ‘the pill’ have had hugely negative consequences on society and we are still reeling from the effects of these new technologies. (For thousands of years sex = baby. It’s only since the 60s that this changed, and it’s having profound impacts in all areas of society.)

 

Not even the violence . Just came out of a shop and turned the wrong way. Forgot where I was going. Again!

 

It’s not the fares that stop me using the train, it’s the trillions of options and conditions that are so confusing. One journey, one fare.

 

Book it two days early and the journey is £8. Book it on the day and it is £25. That puts me off. These are empty seats - so why are they suddenly so expensive?

 

Same as alot of other things,just charge fair and look after your customers! As if!!

 

@Osvaldorama I am not going to get into your answers - thanks for doing that! - as that isn't the point of the survey, but I just want to iron out one thing. The Overton Window, which is a niche concept developed as part of a conservative think tank in the late 90s, states that politicians are constrained by the ideas of their electorate and that political discourse, or the Overton Window, moves with that swell of public opinion. The idea that the window has shifted left is one being pushed by the rightwing media, and a gross simplification of global politics. Actually, most people would agree that the global consensus of public opinions has swung right. Look at voting trends, look at people like Trump.

Overton has nothing to do with government and is altogether about where public opinion suggests politicians can go. I would argue the window has opened, making extreme views on both sides more acceptable to discuss. It has certainly not swung left - or Trump would not be in power. Trump has ridden the swing of the Overton window to the right (or the opening up of the right to public acceptance).

“The most common misconception is that lawmakers themselves are in the business of shifting the Overton window,” Jospeh Lehman said. “That is absolutely false. Lawmakers are actually in the business of detecting where the window is, and then moving to be in accordance with it.”

 

Good post, Os. Funny thing is, I don’t disagree with a lot of it.

My one question would be, how do you tally your (valid) concern about the overreach and influence of large corporations, with your love of Musk? He’s the overreach of all overreaches.

 

To answer my own question, I suspect you quite enjoy the position of contrarian, and support most things that would disrupt and upset the status quo.

I do agree with what you’ve said more than disagree though. It’s interesting.

 

Trump, Elon etc are former democrats.

All of their ideas would have been centrist 20 years ago. The world has shifted to the left massively imo. Same here.

Even the recent Tories;
- mass immigration
- welfare rises
- tax rises

There is no way the last 14 years have been remotely conservative.

 

I don’t think so. I genuinely feel like my views have been consistent for a long time, it’s just the world has gone more mental. (I admit that maybe I am actually crazy though based on the feedback on here.)

For example, we spend 3bn a year on hotels for illegal migrants.
The tax raises that are about to decimate the farming industry will raise 500mil.

This is a perfect example of how out of touch our politicians are. They prioritise EVERYONE else except UK tax payers.

What sane government destroys its farming industry to house foreign nationals?
I think this is genuinely insane

 

Being a former democrat, which is a right-leaning party by European standards, and shifting right, is evidence the Overton window has shifted right, Os. You are explaining it yourself!

You are also not understanding what the Overton window is, even though I explained it. The Overton Window is the window of popular opinion, or more accurately opinion acceptable to the populace. It is not what the governments do.

If the window has shifted left, as you say, then people are now more anti-conservatism and pro-socialism. That is the opposite of your point. You believe the people have shifted right, and are now reacting to left-wing sentiments. This means the window has shifted right (or at least expanded right to make right-leaning viewpoints acceptable.

All I am asking is you use the terminology correctly.

 

Nobody wants the government to spend billions on housing asylum seekers but the main reason for this is because the Tories stopped processing their claims, creating a massive backlog.
And their reason for doing that was so they could weaponise the spending on refugees and turn voters against them.
It’s backfired on them because those who aren’t as far to the right didn’t vote for them in the last election and those who are as far right, or further to the right voted for Reform.

 

The last 14 years has been extremely Conservative, just very badly managed.

 

Can we stop using the term "illegal immigrants"? This is inaccurate. The people in hotels are here as part of a legal process. If they were illegal, they would not be in hotels. These people are legal immigrants and going through due process.

There is no need for incorrect and hyperbolic definitions.

 

I know exactly what it is.

Politicians base their talking points on what the people are saying. That’s literally the point of democracy.

The Overton window shifting left, meant that politicians have also shifted left.

As an example, for clarity, the trans issue:

Most sane people for many years didn’t have any issue with trans people. Then the Overton window shifted left, the vocal minority got louder and we started introducing mixed toilets and women into sports.

Now the right has woken up and is pushing back against these new ideologues.

The same is true of many issues. Immigration, safety etc. The current right is left by historical standards.

The Overton window precedes political discourse

 

This simply isn’t true.

I know the “Conservatives” were in power, and I’m very glad they’re gone.

But if you zoom out, ignore all the noise and actually look at how the country was run, it was NOT conservative in the slightest. (At least if you define conservativism as historically defined)

 

No industrial scale farmers pleading poverty while rolling in subsidies and tax perks; no mad cow disease, no nitrates in rivers, no chickens pumped full of steroids, no tearing down hedgerows and destroying biodiversity