Kissing your sister.

In yesterday's general election the British have resolutely chosen to do nothing.

Before I try to make sense of what happened, let's look at some quirks of the U.K. electoral system as it operated to reward the Blancmange Party and ensure that the next five years for Britain will be a generous helping of "steady as she goes."

These are the results of the election ranked by number of seats won^[1]:

Party				Seats				% of vote
Conservative Party				330				36.8
Labour Party				232				30.5
Scottish National Party (SNP)				56				4.7
Other (vegans, nudists, feminists, university professors communists, jihadis, gypsies, Vikings, pedophiles, global warmists, voodooists, Anglicans)				23				7.5
Liberal Democrats				8				7.9
UKIP				1				12.6

Listed another way by percentage of votes earned:

Party				Seats				% of vote
Conservative Party				330				36.8
Labour Party				232				30.5
UKIP				1				12.6
Liberal Democrats				8				7.9
Other				23				7.5
Scottish National Party (SNP)				56				4.7

So the most recent exercise in democratic politics in the nation that is the Mother of Parliaments gave 56 seats to the SNP (last in terms of total percentage of votes earned) but UKIP (third in terms of total percentage of votes earned) got a heart-stopping one (1) seat. Thus, the SNP got 37.3% of the votes that UKIP earned but got 56 times the number of seats as UKIP. One SNP vote compares to one UKIP vote as 11.9 compares to 0.08, a disparate effect of SNP votes relative to UKIP votes on the order of 149 to 1.

Conservatives got 330 seats for their 36.8% of the votes or 8.97 seats for every 1% of the vote. Labour got 232 seats for 30.5% of the vote, or 7.61 for every 1% of the vote. Respectively, the Conservative and Labour voter's vote was 113 and 96 times more potent than the UKIPper's vote.

Had seats been allocated on the basis of percentage of the vote, the Conservatives would have won only 239 seats, 87 seats short of a majority. Instead of sitting in the catbird seat today, the Conservatives would be in full desperation mode.

The actual, not "what if" result is, of course, due to the "first past the post" rule of U.K. electoral politics and the ability of minor parties to draw strength away from other minor parties like the proverbial "crabs in a bucket." Similar rules hinder lesser, newer parties seeking access to the ballot in U.S. elections and something can be said for electoral schemes that rewards politicians who are willing to come together under a Big Tent. This dampens enthusiasm for nutcase excess.

However . . . . . . . this U.K. result strikes me as a strange one given my ardent belief that we are living in revolutionary times. Not that anyone seems to notice all that much. Or that time might be running short.

Even so, UKIP is hardly a radical party, unless one considers challenging the sacred belief of the ruling parties in the European Union radical. Nigel Farage was an appealing fellow with extraordinary intelligence, insight, courage, and oratorical gifts and he made a point of not associating with Marine Le Pen.

The Conservatives proposed nothing of particular merit that I know of. (I didn't follow the details of the campaigns, let it be known). The only thing "bold" out of them was a commitment to a referendum on the E.U. which was, it seems to me, forced on Cameron who would rather have spent three weeks in a rowboat with Al Sharpton than risk a British withdrawal from the E.U.

The question then is why the abandonment of the excellent Nigel Garage and the ardent rush to the "safe" but flaccid center? Quirks of the electoral system aside, had the U.K. electorate been of a different mind, a vastly different result would have been served up on the current lot.

As I continually complain, European voters simply just will not support nationalist parties, will not be energized on immigration, and will not step back from the madness of the welfare state even as it is in its death throes of fiscal and monetary excess.

Yesterday's election can perhaps be seen as yet another manifestation of Britons and Europeans clinging to normality at all costs. The alternative is an unbelievably painful recognition of what a ghastly mistake they have made to dabble in the mass importation of third-world parasites, benefits tourists, grifters, and holy warriors who spit in their faces because of their weakness and naivete. Alternatively, the Treason Parties continue to deliver on the theft of resources from the prudent and productive and voters cannot bring themselves to risk cutting off the flow of gravy.

Notes
^[1] Results Centre, Sky NEWS, 5/8/15.