I pride myself in being open to change, to new possibilities. With that in mind I decided to read all the political pampflets this year instead of just voting for Sosialistisk Venstreparti (the Socialist Left party) as I always do.* And loh and behold, on my doorstep, as if by miracle (or because I moved in with the son of a rightwinged man) Høyre ("Right" as in as opposed to "Left", not as in "Correct") rang our doorbell with a pampflett. So I read it. With an open mind, I'd think.

But already on page one I was in trouble. You see, they said they'd put the country back on track by reducing taxes and increasing spending on schools and police. So if they're going to get less income, where are they taking the funds for the schools and police force from? It didn't say. That is what I'd like to know before I vote for somebody.

By voting for Socialist Left for instance, I know they want increased spending on public goods and that they will finance it through increased tax incomes. They're open about that and if you disagree with it, you vote for somebody else. But this "getting more while paying less"-attitude is bullshit, and I hope we all know it by now, after all Høyre has been in power several times before and so far it's always meant less money for something (like hospitals, schools and public transportation).



*For you non-natives, in Norway we have a variety of political parties, not just two big ones with tiny powerless ones on the side like in Great Britain or the US.
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From: [identity profile] 45hasle.livejournal.com


Ah, but think about it; høyre translates to "right" in English. Left translates to "Sinister" in Italian. Isn't that really all you need to know? Do you really want to vote for the sinister party?

From: [identity profile] jhkimrpg.livejournal.com


Well, but of course there's money for all the programs without taxes -- your government just has to go into massive debt, like ours here in the U.S. :-) I realize there are plenty of problems over there too, but this is a very depressing point over here, which both of our two major parties are complicit in.

From what I read, though, your Høyre party is very different from our conservative. They support gay marriage and adoption, and they're the only party in favor of EU membership. (I'm unclear on what is conservative about the latter.)

It seems that their economic theory is similar to our conservatives, though, that lowering taxes can stimulate economic growth -- thus taking a smaller percentage of a larger pie. It doesn't actually work in practice, and historically when the U.S. has a conservative government, our debt grows.

From: [identity profile] martinemonster.livejournal.com


They're not the only party in favor of EU membership. I know the Labor Party also favors it.


From: [identity profile] jhkimrpg.livejournal.com


Oops. Sorry about that -- shows what I know about Norwegian politics.

BTW, the Knutepunkt program looks great! I'm looking forward to it immensely.
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