@goatrodeo The problem goes SOOOOO much deeper than just Trump, my friend.
The orange fascist is the INEVITABLE outcome of a “democracy” that BY DESIGN prevents the possibility of any parties outside of the two fascist, privately-owned ones.
More impotent, corporatist, #brunchlib strategies that don’t work:
- Vote with your wallet
- Sign a change.org petition
- #callyourrepresentative
- #votebluenomatterwho
- #BankerLivesMatter
@dick_turpin Which MP will plead the case for a change in the law? It's like trying to get a party that won under #FPTP to get rid of it.
@ChrisMayLA6 And the reason UKLabour are out of time is #FPTP.
In 2007–11, #FiannaFail drove Ireland's economy over a cliff edge. #FF lost 58% of its vote share at Ireland's 2011 general election, but #STV ensured that #FF was not wiped out. It partially rebuilt, and by 2024 FF was again the largest party.
But #FPTP is far more brutal to losers. Labour's likely fall to under 20% of the vote will leave it as a tiny rump, too weak to rebuild.
@CurlyParakeet I am not going to answer, because nobody gets to separate the two. In a party system, every candudate is a mix of both personality and party.
#FPTP forces voters to make bizarrely coerced tactical choices between grotesque packages. A large number of votes are cast for disliked or even despised candidates of similarly unloved parties.
When votes are cast with clothespegs on the nose, it doesn't really matter which stink is dominant.
“Seats in parliament should match how we vote” - you know it makes sense!
https://ers.tools/ProportionalRepresentation #democracy #UkDemocracy #pr #fptp #proportionalrepresentation
🚨Our #democracy shouldn’t be a gamble! 😤
#FirstPastThePost fails 70% of voters! 🤬 We urgently need to scrap it. I’ve asked my MP to attend a crucial briefing on how to do just that.
Join me 👇: #Politics #Justice #FPTP
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-mp-our-democracy-shouldnt-be-a-gamble?source=twitter&&
@Tattered People vote by making choices between available options. #FPTP is a device for constraining options.
Similarly, British Europhiles systematically deprived voters of options to set limits to Euro-integration. No referendum on SEA, Maastricht, Nice, Lisbon. After 1975, voters had no choice for 41 years, when the choice was full steam ahead, or get out. So voters chose out.
If voters had a choice at each step, Brexit would not have happened.
@bthalpin That's interesting mathematically, but doesn't reflect how voters can use #STV to vote very differently.
The data from your study looks to me more like the result of d'Hondt in 3-seat constituencies. (And 3 is v small under either STV or d'Hondt)
#FPTP traps voters into strong parties, but transferability removes tactical voting. Voters choose who they want, then transfer.
@ColmDonoghue @ChrisMayLA6 @Tattered
>>
@Tattered @ChrisMayLA6 Westminster elections have at best a rather loose connection to the idea of representative democracy. It's not just #FPTP limiting choice and producing wildly distorted outcomes (2024 was insane); it's the rigged seat allocation by voter registration rather than census, and the failure to ban corporate funding.
The results are more of a game than a reflection of the will of the people.
https://montgomeryperspective.com/2026/01/14/sully-wants-to-guarantee-non-democratic-council-seats/
I would be in favor of proportional representation on the Montgomery County council, with party list voting, but this is not that. This is... I don't even know what to call it. A quota system? For political parties?
If 66% of votes go to a certain political party, I feel like that political party should get 66% of the power, right? @BaltimoreBanner
#Maryland #Montgomerycounty #voting #proportionalrepresentation #FPTP
Free speech doesn’t disappear because someone wakes up one morning and decides to ban it.
It erodes because systems slowly stop rewarding tolerance, Lets look at how we can possibly protect what we have.
#Politics #FreeSpeech #ECHR #UkPolitics #HRA #FPTP #PR #Rethink
@robcinos I'm not sure that "weak" captures #Starmer for me. That implies "weak leader", whereas Starmer isn't even a politician. He has no political values, no political vision, no political skills. He's lost, as misplaced as a rhino on an iceberg.
He was never supposed to be PM. Starmer was #McSweeney's device to oust #Corbyn, a mere tool to be discarded after losing the 2024 election. But then Tories imploded, and a quirk of #FPTP made Starmer PM on only 34% of the votes. #oops,
@bjornsdottirs The #Ukgov doesn't care about a domestic hit from looking cruel. #FPTP gave the #Starmtroopers a stonking majority with only 34% of the votes, and a large chunk of Brits love #cruelty.
But things get trickier for the #UKgov's #MillwallFC attitude ("nobody likes us, we don't care") when the government's of the UK's allies start taking heat for British cruelty. That was the lesson that Ireland belatedly learnt about UK's systematic cruelty in #NorthernIreland: #internationalise it.
@ReggieHere #FPTP is in effect a system for coercing voters into two big blocs. D'Hondt systems also coerce voters into blocs, but tolerate smaller blocs. Only #STV avoids coercion, and retains voter choice of candidates as well as parties.
So a lot depends on what replaces #FPTP.
E.g. in Ireland it took voters 70 years to start dismantling a 2½-party system, and another 20 years to really use STV effectively. So it's hard to predict the effects of ending FPTP.
Even the Economist knows #fptp is pants https://youtube.com/shorts/nls1QEBsaIY?si=mfuoMYfUalfBQExO #politics
The UK’s political system isn’t broken.
It’s working exactly as intended, just not for the benefit of you or me.
My radical request — is for BORING POLITICS … In this post I outline why what the UK really needs is not show and outrage but dull predictability.
#Politics #Rethink #UKPolitics #FPTP
In the history of our slightly incestuous democracy, I wonder if more Conservatives have crossed to the Liberals or Liberals to Conservatives.
#CanPoli #CdnPoli #LPC #CPC #democracy #pickaside #bigtent #RedTory #BlueLiberal #FPTP #PropRep
Some proponents of #fptp claim it has the advantage of being like a race with a clear winner. I actually think the race analog is a good one. I see it thus:
The MPs are racers
The voters are betting on the winner
Some of the voters backing the winner are going to be happy
Most of the voters are going to lose everything
The bookmakers (the establishment in this context) are going to be super happy - they win no matter what the result
The upcoming Elections Bill is ignoring the biggest problem with our elections: how we vote
It reads like a joke, but its consequences are not
No one will be laughing if Reform win a majority in 2029 on only 27% of the vote
But that’s FPTP in action
With the Elections Bill, Labour have a window to end this downward spiral, but only if they end the era of our archaic, unfair voting system
Please consider adding your name to this PR petition
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-democracy-minister
Showing off MVM Reading's giant banner outside #ReadingStation & indulging in a spot of leafletting as part of our campaign for #proportionalrepresentation before going for a delightful chat and coffee at the https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/your-visit/pantry-caf%C3%A9-kitchen. I believe **#ProportionalRepresentation** would tip the balance of power from vested interests that monopolise government attention & finance the parties that are favoured by #fptp, improve trust & engagement in #politics & countless other things! #britishpolitics
