best political outlook to survive peak oil

[jonny2mad]

one of the the things that makes me want to leave the uk is the degree of socialism and entitlement in the general population and in the leadership of the country .

I think the country's to fluffy not Earnest enough the people are weak pretty passionless and not serious .

I think a country where people were less Dependant on the state where the state was much smaller would have a better chance of survival .

the whole bailing out of banks thing and the limp response to it by the public sums things up for me and makes me want to leave , but Im not sure where to go .

what political system do you think would best survive peak oil ?

in the uk I can just see higher and higher taxes more control of the population more socialist handouts for the rich company's with political influence , uncontrolled immigration idleness and silliness .

[biffvernon]

Is this irony or tongue in cheek? We have amongst the lowest taxation rate in Europe, way below Scandinavian countries.

[re]

that's funny, one of the the things that makes me want to leave the uk is the lack of socialism.

I guess it depends if you think the UK is the environment you see around you or the environment the daily mail tells you is all around you.

Hang on, are you saying you want to leave partly because of the uncontrolled immigration? Let's hope the country you want to move to isn't too strict eh? Oh the irony

[Blue Peter]

Is this irony or tongue in cheek? We have amongst the lowest taxation rate in Europe, way below Scandinavian countries.

It will be interesting to see how they cope in the future, but at the moment and in the recent past, Scandinavian countries do tend to come top of happiness and best quality of life indexes.

I suppose that we have to many imperial interests and the need to maintain and aristorcracy and rich bankers to adapt that model, though,


Peter.

[Kieran]

that's funny, one of the the things that makes me want to leave the uk is the lack of socialism.

I guess it depends if you think the UK is the environment you see around you or the environment the daily mail tells you is all around you.

Hang on, are you saying you want to leave partly because of the uncontrolled immigration? Let's hope the country you want to move to isn't too strict eh? Oh the irony

Couldn't agree more. Reminds me of one of my nephews who a few years ago wanted to emigrate with his family to Spain "to get away from all the bloody foreigners". The irony of it still makes me chuckle.

[Kentucky Fried Panda]

Where you moving to? 1930's Germany?

[tubaplayer]

I chose Hungary when I wanted to up-sticks and leave the UK. Don't know a lot about the political system. Just that it doesn't bother me and I don't bother it.

Lots of reasons for:

• Sound legal basis for owning property (goes back to the Hapsburgs)
  Plenty of cheap property with big plots of land available
  Third best in Europe on civil liberties (would have been higher, but they do apparently monitor where you go on the Internet)
  Only 10,000,000 people in an area about 80% of the size of England
  The villages are still communities (well, this one certainly is)
  Residency easily obtained
  The Hungarians like it here. They are proud of their language and their country

Lots of stuff is still done by hand and nothing goes to waste. There is a prevailing attitude of 'make do and mend'. I think (hope) that the rural areas will fare quite well when Peak Oil kicks in.

[contadino]

I chose Hungary when I wanted to up-sticks and leave the UK. Don't know a lot about the political system. Just that it doesn't bother me and I don't bother it.

Lots of reasons for:

• Sound legal basis for owning property (goes back to the Hapsburgs)
  Plenty of cheap property with big plots of land available
  Third best in Europe on civil liberties (would have been higher, but they do apparently monitor where you go on the Internet)
  Only 10,000,000 people in an area about 80% of the size of England
  The villages are still communities (well, this one certainly is)
  Residency easily obtained
  The Hungarians like it here. They are proud of their language and their country

Lots of stuff is still done by hand and nothing goes to waste. There is a prevailing attitude of 'make do and mend'. I think (hope) that the rural areas will fare quite well when Peak Oil kicks in.

...not to mention the freedom to distil your own Hungarian plum brandy. Here, fully functioning stills are sold with big signs saying "For ornamental purposes only."

[Ludwig]

I'm fed up of arguing with people who think the UK's problems are due to socialism. People see what they want to see.

I agree with the OP's comments about the actual state of Britain, but if people are not earnest enough it's because successive governments, both Conservative and Labour, have force-fed the population with the dogmas of individualism and consumerism - the opposite of socialism.

Our booming pseudo-economy has also helped entrench that sense of entitlement.

The education system also has a lot to answer for: children aren't taught to think any more, are encouraged to think that everything is easy, and so at the first sign of adversity down tools.

A country like Germany has a much more "socialist" outlook but you don't find the lack of seriousness there that the OP talks about.

New Labour brought some of the worst aspects of socialism with it (the sense of entitlement, the nanny state), without having the guts to institute its better aspects (community values, less materialism).

Anyhow, once we are in a situation of mass unemployment, the political system will probably be irrelevant. Low tax revenues will force the Government to be thin, while society descends into a state of impoverished, crime-ridden anarchy. Sounds like that's the system the OP wants anyway.

[Kieran]

one of the the things that makes me want to leave the uk is the degree of socialism and entitlement in the general population and in the leadership of the country ....I think a country where people were less Dependant on the state where the state was much smaller would have a better chance of survival ..

What, you want something more like the American system?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ju ... ack-change

[jonny2mad]

I think as you have less energy the more complex government and the social system is the less well it will function .

my sister who works for the local council was saying to me she thought her job was safe during peak oil because people need social services , my reply was look at periods where we had less energy you didnt have child welfare offices or health and safety people .

you had maybe a rat catcher and a sheriff the old the blind the lame had it very bad thats what I think we are going back to .

how I think this will work out is they wont sack all social services people they will try to keep them employed but they wont have the wealth to pay them, so they will print more money, the money paid to the social services people will be worthless they will do jobs like farm laboring as a side job and then gradually drop out .

The uk may pay less taxes than the rest of Europe but that doesn't impress me because all that means is that say Norway will fall faster .

I like the national health but I dont think we will be able to pay for it , we could in the past we cant in the future .

[emordnilap]

Plenty of room (and lower taxes) here.