belezabaub

Lets not forget Hitler's rise to power was actually not through military force per se, althought he did use a degree of violence to intimidate his opponents during his rise to power, Hitler rose to his his position through democratic means. It could be argued that Hitler would probably have retained a mandate throughout his rule. Hitler was very popular in his time, he had made Germany who was crippled by the reparations from world war 1, and ridiculous hyper inflation of the Weimar Republic, prosperous again. Many everyday Germans opposed to his anti-semitism accepted it because economically Germany was doing so well. He made Germans proud to be German.

Communist do vote. During Stalin's rule there were numerous elections, the only difference was it was a one party state. My view on the matter is that it is although in a 'liberal democracy' there is an appearance of being more than one party, the real truth, in the case of British politics the Labour party and The Conservative party, in the case of American politics the Democrats and the Republicans are practically the same party, with very little difference in terms of content but very different in terms of delivery.

Policies are no long based solely on the views of the party many are devised in 'think tanks'. Some of these 'think tanks' have quite a lot of control over policy and ultimately control over the country. Some of these 'think tanks' work for both parties so irrespective of who you vote for they will still have a certain amount of control. You'll not see any chance to vote for what 'think tank' is advising your executive.

I believe that the biggest form of propaganda bar religion is nationalism. What the fuck is nationalism but simply a way of saying my country is the best? Don't believe the hype, it is neither your duty nor a neccessity to vote. Duty as a citizen? Give me a break. As long as you aren't a complete asshole or harming others you are performing your civic duty. To quote Aldous Huxley,

"Under a scientific dictator education will really work- with the result that most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution"
(Brave New World Revisited, p160)

By all means if there is a candidate you feel you want to support, support them. I'm not claiming that you shouldn't vote out of principle but what I am claiming in that voting simply because you feel you must vote is ridiculous. If I believed in a candidate I would vote for them.

The problem I have is that most 'democracies' aren't as democratic as they seem. Proportional representation only exists in a very few countries. There is now also a very undemocratic unvoted for advisors to the executive element and on top of all that, there seems to be very little difference in terms of the candidates.

I'm sorry I keep quoting only your replies Crompsin, I meant to quote other people but don't know how to do more than one quote in a reply. Good thread though.