Re: Yesterday we received the great news that the Hunting Bill will be reintroduced to the Commons next week.

From: Paul Rooney (paulrooney_at_aol.com)
Date: 09/16/04 

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 12:28:54 +0100

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 11:31:38 +0100, "BAC"
<casswalk@NOSPAMdircon.co.uk> wrote:

>Many years ago, Northern Ireland was administered by a parliament in
>Stormont, which was heavily dominated, under the first past the post system,
>by the majority protestant population. Even though that was a 'democratic'
>process, a significant minority felt oppressed by the majority, and, seeing
>there was no way of altering things by that 'democratic' process, were
>perhaps fertile ground for those wishing to bring about change by
>extra-parliamentary means.

The problem there was that the boundaries were drawn in such a way as
to ensure permanent Prod domination - hence only 6 out of Ulster's 9
counties were included, plus the existence of the property owner vote,
which many people are wholly unaware ever existed.

Either the majority can do what it likes or it's not democracy
(because in such a case, the will of the majority would be thwarted by
the minority). It's imperfect, but it's the most legitimate syatem
ever devised.

PR, of course, means no-one gets the government they want (-:

At least with first past the post, that doesn't arise, and you don't
get plagued by the need for constant elections like Israel and Italy
have been. Also, you can vote for the man, not the party, so
independents get a fair chance. 

-- 
Paul {Hamilton Rooney}
Former owner of the newsgroup demon.local
"Chris {Hamilton Hill} will certainly post the appropriate email if required" - J {Hamilton K}
"What sort of proof would you like? I could post the email from Demon's
legal team, complete with headers" - Chris {Hamilton Hill}
Oho!

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