It is often said that as you get older you turn more to the right, something that i have scoffed at but today i'm worried because i find myself in absolute agreement with the Prime Minister, and he is a Conservative.
David Cameron has said that the thought of giving the vote to prisoners makes him physically sick and although i haven't upchucked over it yet, i agree that prisoners and voting booths should not meet.
If a person has been removed from society for whatever reason, then it seems a bit mad to then give them the opportunity to choose who makes the laws of the land that they couldn't co-exist in.
This is one time that the European Court of Human Rights who is pushing for Britain to allow prisoners to vote, should be ignored but if Europe compels us to follow then just pass the law that prisoners can vote but it must be done at a proper polling station, if they can get there.
The worst thing about becoming more right wing is that as my IQ drops i will have to get rid of all my books that contain words of over two syllables, stop recycling, not show any concern for my fellow man and argue cluelessly about the fairness of our capitalist system with the man who lost his livelihood in yet another recession and now lives in his van and bang on about how global warming is a hoax to the lady whose house has just been flooded.
2 comments:
I wouldn't worry, Lucy :)
I think too much of life is categorised as 'left wing' or 'right wing', and this encourages the hoi polloi to line up behind the team of their choice. It doesn't encourage independent thinking, to say the least. Look at poor David for an example of this.
This is another of those issues that doesn't fit, I reckon. Is it really 'right wing' to want prisoners to lose voting rights for the period that they're incarcerated? While most people who'd disagree with this proposition would likely be woolly tree-hugging bleeding hearts, there'd still be a sh!tload of left wingers who'd feel that the ban was a good idea.
Anyway, it's a fascinating issue in terms of our relationship with Europe. We studied it last year in my law class. The bottom line of a case taken to the CJEU is nothing short of a full-blown constitutional crisis. This is because the prisoner 'won' his case in this highest court... and yet he still can't vote... the legislature and the judiciary are pointing in opposite directions.
However, we'll probably get around this problem soon, as the CJEU's main issue is with the 'absolute' nature of the ban on voting. The government just has to do a little 'fudge', to make the ban not quite so all-encompassing and yet still generally effective, and the CJEU will uphold the member state's discretion in this matter.
is voting a right or a privilege? that is the questions...
i think it is a privilege.
q
Post a Comment