State of the Nation

I rarely post anything about politics, mainly because I tend to think it's a personal decision. I don't often link to anything political on Facebook either unless there is something particularly funny, and at the moment there is very little stuff that is very funny. Plenty of stuff people think is funny, but it isn't. And this week I have done something I haven't done previously. I have unfriended one person and unfollowed a group because I just cannot stand the constant stream of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump moaning.

What worries me most are some basic principals which seem to be lacking. In both cases, the referendum and the US election, there was a legal vote, one side won and to a degree that should be an end to it. If you didn't get the result you want, you work towards making sure the vote goes your way next time. Even with Brexit, where there might not be a next time, you work to get the deal you want and you make the best of it and try and make it a success.

But not in Britain anymore. Or apparently in the States. What happens now is that if you lose a vote you should not accept it and do everything you can to have it overturned. Demand the other side is wrong and demand politicians overturn things. And you do all this by making stupid statements and attacking people, both members of the public and those in power.

Amongst the stupid statements and suggestions are;

Only 37% of the population voted to come out ofthe EU so we should stay in! That might be an argument if that didn't mean that only 35% of the population voted to remain. There is the argument that 50% of the population should have been required but it is irrelevant as that wasn't the condition of the vote. In fact it is rare for any election in the UK to provide a result where more than 50% of the electorate vote for one side or the other.

Politicians must do the right thing and vote to remain and not trigger Article 50! To start with, it is somewhat presumptive to belive that only "your side" can be right. As we now know, most MP's did vote to trigger the vote. How could they do anything else. It really should have been a simple and obvious decision for each MP. whichever way your constituency voted, as their elected representative, you vote the same way. There shouldn't have been a three line whip. The Lib Dems are pulling their normal trick of taking a stand where they believe they can convince some voters to come over to them. They will once again find long term it doesn't work. Hw did anyone think that MPs would overturn the vote. If they did that there could never be another election again because anyone could declare it unacceptable and a precedent would have been set.

For the sake of going on and on I'll leave it there. Most of the pre-vote talk was about how only racists would see immigration as a bad thing. So, what was largely the far left and then latterly people who wuld normally not be so vocal, lay into those who voted out with a venom that if people on the right had used would be declared bigots and racists and evil.

I recently described Facebook as the Home of Righteous Indignation. And that is what it has become to all too many people. I haven't seen a kitten for weeks! It's just constant bile.