Can you help me understand politics?

[Anna B]

It never will either. All the talk about having to have private healthcare insurance to use the NHS or be asked for a credit card to use A&E is total rubbish. Unproven and the only source is on a protester's placard.

 

To the OP; the important thing to understand about politics is that both sides have spin doctors that want to mould your opinion. People like to think it's only the press that do this, but it's everywhere - soundbites from people like Russell Brand, statements from unions and it's very prevalent on Sheffield Forum, where people will state fiction as fact in a way to change the flow of discussion or fog the truth.

 

If you want to learn about politics, see beyond the personal agenda of someone's argument and dig out the facts. Base your own opinion on fact, not spin.

Trouble is, it's actually very hard to actually dig out the facts, as they too are often subjective. Take statistics; for every set pointing to one truth, there is another set, pointing the other way. Spin doctors abound in all parties. The media is biased. Lies are common currency, and it's difficult to trust anyone. Even ordinary people can view exactly the same situation from different points of view, and come to wildly differring conclusions, depending on who or what they have been influenced by.

 

It used to be a lot simpler. Labour (left wing) was the party of the working class, and fought for them, and the Conservatives (right wing,) were the party of the middle and upper class, and fought for them. The Liberal Party (now known as the Liberal Democrats) tended to occupy the centre ground, but had little chance of winning an election outright as we were essentially in a two party system. Politicians were respected and seen as mostly honest in their dealings.

As you will be discovering, however, things are no longer that simple, and the global economic crash of 2008 has thrown up all sorts of problems and revelations; not least, the lack of honesty amongst politicians, starting with the MPs' expenses scandal, and the lack of resources. Opinions have polarised, become more extreme, and cutthroat tactics used as everyone scrambles for what little is left.

 

The bloke is right in that you just have to find out all you can for yourself, read from a wide variety of sources, and come to your own conclusions.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Anna B

[Chazndave]

There are virtually no facts in politics. Thats what this thread shows. Its all opinions.

[Mister M]

Having less regulation and personal freedom or "everyone for themselves" as you've chosen to put it, is by definition less about rigid fixed structure and strict regulation. A big state imposing lots of regulation and even a form planned economy is broadly what the left is all about.

 

Pity it wasn't about lots of regulation of the banking sector in 2007/8