Thread: After the election

I believe that some of the Americans in here are no friend of Obama. Because it is not my country and because I don't share the same opinions I never really knew what it would feel like the day after the election when you can see the hopes and dreams of your nation fading away like poorly made lather.

Well, today is the day after the Thai elections. I didn't vote because I'm not Thai, but I do have a great love for this country which has become my adopted home.

The people had a choice between massive corruption, extra judicial killings, and possible future dictatorship OR a government which could have provided good governance and steadily made things better.

They made the wrong choice.

So what would it take for the uneducated masses to sell out their own country?
Just 300 baht. That is what was being paid for people to vote for the side that eventually won.

So what will happen in the near future?
There are two possibilities.
The first is a coup. The army is very good at this.

The second is a legal challenge. There were enough discrepancies to have the winners banned from politics for five years and their party dissolved.

After that there will be mass protests by the ignorant masses, then riots, then bloodshed and we're back where we started.

Today is a sad day for Thailand.

(Just one more point, because of the draconian laws here in Thailand I would like to ask anyone commenting on this thread not to mention the man at the top who wears a golden crown. If you do it won't effect you, but it could make life difficult for me living here in Thailand. Thank you.)

I am very sorry to hear about the political unrest in your adopted home. I am sure that your comments are based on your love for Thailand and it must be very disturbing to live through a power transition that looks so dismal. Stay safe and we all hope for the best for Thailand and you too.
Mike

I must say although I am no fan of Obama's at least I did not have to worry about the "massive corruption, extra judicial killings, and possible future dictatorship" you fear are a future for Thailand when he was elected, well the massive corruption was there but I think your probably talking about much more blatant and "massive" corruption then we have to fear here in the USA. I am sorry to here that you see this as the future and can only hope that you are wrong although from what I hear your fears are justified. I have a friend that spent a year teaching in Thailand and another that has assembled political reports on Thailand and both seem to be in agreement that this will be a trying time for Thailand and was not a good direction for the country to go. We can only hope that any transtion is for the better and if drastic measures are needed they are quick and bloodless.

I was sorry to read about red shirt victory too. Could it be that people voted as a protest because the army shut down their protests not so long ago?
I hope that your next prime minister is wise enough not to let the ex return from Dubai as it would surely mean a huge disappointment to so many.

Basically i still think that people never vote wrong. Sometimes they have to carry the sad consequences based on their votes but they just get what they ordered. Probably many will wake up in this feeling there too. But just like one of our presidential candidates said after losing the elections: People have spoken, now shut up!

Still best wishes to your beautiful country! I hope everything will turn out well.

I'm very sad to hear about it, but I guess I'm just too cynical to be surprised. The government there has not really been the most stable, if you catch my meaning, and when people are used to a bit of chaos it can be easy to exploit. You have my sympathies, and my wishes for as little unrest as possible in the coming months and years.

The stakes aren't nearly as high here in Japan, but the system is reaching similar levels of head slapping stupidity. Japan has gone through 6 Prime Ministers in as many years, and the other ministers are demanding the current one resign because...well...apparently because he doesn't want to resign? I'm not sure. But basically, the people have lost all faith in the government to even keep itself upright, much less get anything done in this nation.

On another note, Wow...do you really think that Obama is comparable? I mean, I know he's not popular on this particular site, but come on now...

While I did say they voted wrong I do acknowledge that the outcome of everyone voted for what I consider the right choice would be just as bad.

Also, I didn't mean to compare Obama to the current political situation in Thailand. I just wanted to illustrate what it feels like to not get your own way.

Lastly, the very best way I see this all working out is this. I would like to see the red shirts, or PTP, be given the opportunity to do the job and then fail. After that the people can realise that in a democracy they have the choice to get rid of them at the next election.

A look at world history will show how often people go and vote in the wrong person and the results have been disastrous for their country and in many cases the world. Most people who vote don't cast a vote based on a thoughtful decision of what the candidates will do for them and the country. They do it based on ignorance, slick media campaigns, biased reporting by alleged news media, personal prejudice and hatred and a stick it to the other guy mentality. In the end the get what they bargained for.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

They do it based on ignorance, slick media campaigns, biased reporting by alleged news media, personal prejudice and hatred and a stick it to the other guy mentality. In the end the get what they bargained for.

I won't say our politicians are cut from better cloth than yours, but at least in our political arena, there is less 'black or white' arguing, simply because we have multiple parties, and they overlap ideologically with some of the other parties. And in a way, you only have to thank yourself for that. Our system is designed to end up with a government with more or less moderate ideology.

If you (in the US) see 2 candidates being idiots to each other, the general reaction is not 'you're both idiots, I vote for someone whom I agree with', but either 'YEAH! You say it!' or 'I vote against the guy I hate most, instead of for the guy I like best (who might not win).' Especially with the latter argument, the end result is just a race to the bottom.

That is why i like multi party system so much. Even the winners must negotiate with their political opposites if they want to rule the country. Winners must pay attention to those who didn't vote for them as well. Of course there are flaws in it and no system is perfect, but i think it is better than most other systems there is. It is not 51 ignoring 49. Even the losers have their responsibilities.

Generally speaking, no party gets beyond 20 or 30 %. In order to get a comfortable majority, you need 2 large parties agreeing, with 1 or 2 smaller parties in case they are aiming for reformations that need a 2/3 majority. But those little parties become very important at that point, because they are needed to make the cut without having to invite a 3d big party. So they do have a good amount of power to make sure that their party goals are at least not run over by the bigger parties.

Generally speaking, the biggest hurdle for multiparty systems are the coalition negotiations.