Political quotas

The hell with democracy.  In post-Blairite England, the Labour government is now demanding that gays be represented in parliament in numbers proportionate to their numbers amongst the general public:

Controversial Government backed plans for a massive increase in the number of gay MPs are being opposed by Commons Speaker Michael Martin, it was revealed last night.

Ministers are likely to support a demand by gay-rights campaigners for a target of electing 39 openly gay MPs – nearly four times the present number.

The target is based on an official estimate that six per cent of Britain is gay and is part of a Parliamentary shake-up by Commons Leader Harriet Harman to make MPs ‘more representative’.

My feeling is that if the British want to use their democratic rights to elect only gay people to Parliament — fine.  What I find appalling is that the government is essentially taking away that democratic right by demanding that only certain demographics can fill parliamentary seats.

You can bet your bottom dollar that, at the rate England is going, the next step will be that government will announce that Parliament must be filled with X number of transgendered MPs, X number of Muslims MPs, X number of Catholic MPs, X number of vegetarian MPs, X number of Anglican MPs (you remember that faith in England, don’t you?), etc..  After that, it’s an easy step for the government to announce that, because voters are being obstreperous about sticking to those legislative guidelines, thereby depriving gays, Muslims, Catholics, vegetarians, etc., of their designated proportional rights, the government will take over the task of finding appropriate representatives from the designated groups to fill parliamentary seats.

And just like that, the noble experiment of democracy, one that traces its roots back hundreds of years in England, will be gone.