Despite of this, Labour decided not to move ahead with the reforms. This shows that first past the post benefits the government in power because the party has majority of the votes in parliament in which makes it difficult for the other party to be heard if they want changes. Furthermore, tactical voting on first past the post encourages voters to vote for a candidate who has a better chance of winning. It prevents the election of a candidate representing the most disliked party. Example for this is in 1997 many Lib Dem and Labour voter tactically voted to get sitting Conservative
The delegate model of representation poses a threat to the form of representative democracy used on the UK as the public will have more say on issues which undermines the Burkean model. Likewise it undermines parliamentary sovereignty as parliament is already bypassed by the government, referendums only make it worse. An example of this is when Labour were voted in and in their manifesto contained a referendum on devolution however the result didn’t turn out in their favour in contradiction of the government, further undermining their power. Moreover the public may not be well advised/trusted to make decisions on issues such as capital punishment as the polls show a majority in favour of it, however MPs can see the faults in the use of the death penalty and vote against it. Also the public may not be educated on some of the deeper issues such as the role of central banks in relation to a single currency.
The first argument links to the fact that politicians are in their position to represent the public’s interests. This to an extent is an impossible job as some issues completely divide the country and a key aspect of a successful democracy is that it represents the entire population. The only fair and truly democratic way to make issues of mass importance or issues that have an ethical issue surrounding them is to hold a referendum. By doing this it allows every member of society to vote on an issue and the outcome will support the majority of the public’s views. This was illustrated by the 1997 ‘Scottish Devolution Referendum’.
With the rise in the professional politician many prefer to remain loyal in order to gain power and move up in the hierarchy as opposed to become a rebel who remains in the back benchers. This can be seen after the vote on tuition fees and the liberal democrats. Despite the fact that they had campaigned for this cause endlessly only 26 (including a few Conservatives) chose to vote against the bill. Whips play an important part in removing efficiency from Parliament. By having whips who ensure that MPs behave in accordance to the decisions of the executive both Parliaments ability to scrutinise and hold the executive to account is diminished, but also their role as representatives of their individual constituency is also compromised.
On the other hand, the single-issue parties, they only focus on only one public policy matter. The chapter also talks about President’s party is almost always more solidly united and better well-organized compare with other major party. However, competition often caused the leadership group in the party out of power. Federalism is a major reason for the decentralized nature of the two major political parties and also the nominating process is also a major cause of party decentralization. Often, the parties will fight with each other and compete with each other within their party during the nominating process.
For a country to be democratic there should be universal suffrage – all adults should have the right to vote. Britain was not very democratic in this respect in 1851, since only 1 in 7 men had the right to vote and no women could vote. However, a number of pieces of legislation were passed to extend the franchise. The 1867 Second Reform Act granted the vote to some working class men for the first time and meant that 1 in 3 men could vote. The 1884 Third Reform Act gave more respectable working class men the vote and meant that 2 out of every 3 were enfranchised.
Erica R. Why we need a Third Party Political Science 102 Tuesday/Thursday American politics is traditionally conquered by the relentless quarrel between Republicans and Democrats, and lately it is being distinguished by the failure of both parties to get things done. Many citizens are having trouble relating to either party. I feel that people want to be properly represented by someone who has their same ideals for the county. Many citizens will support a third party candidate or they won't vote. This is why I believe we need a third political party; a party that will actually have a chance to make it into office; not a green party or libertarian party but an American Party.
During the first decade of the 20th century the suffragettes more militant style campaigning was met with a lot of opposition. Source 15 comments that the “suffrage movement still failed to persuade the government and the majority of the population to support votes for women”. This is true as women were not able to gain the vote until 1918, and many politicians were against women having the vote;
Discuss two remedies for low voter turnout. What are the pros and cons of each? Our system of government, today, requires voters to turnout, because in theory any one vote could decide the outcome of the election. Many ideas have been proposed to the government to improve voter turnout, but the two that are the most likely to work out in my opinion is finning citizens who do not vote and to try to raise political awareness. Australia fines its citizens for not voting and we could do the same in the U.S.
When a presidential election occurs it is the Electoral College’s votes that truly pick the next president. Although the representative does have the same views as the popular opinion of the state representatives can vote how they choose. Hence, Bush was reelected. Source: howstuffworks.com 6. Civil Liberties: Basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the constitution.