Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

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josh71188
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Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by josh71188 »

Hello,
In a recent conversation with a Buddhist friend, she confessed that she believes the UK Conservative Party tend to promote inequality, greed and selfishness and thus confessed she could never bring herself to vote for them. This has led me to consider which, if any, UK political party hold values that reflect my own Buddhist inspired views. As such, I was wondering if any UK Buddhists out there had ever voted or intened to vote Conservative in a general election?

Metta

Josh
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Mr Man
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Mr Man »

And the labour party?
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I have never voted, and probably never will, but if I did I would vote for the candidate rather than any particular party. The best politician are those who are honest, hard-working, and intelligent. I am not so cynical as to think that all politicians are dishonest.
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Sam Vara
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Sam Vara »

I have never voted Conservative, but it is worth noting that the Conservative candidates themselves would probably argue that they are promoting self-reliance, respect, responsibility and restraint as virtues.

And further worth noting that the actual difference in policies between the main parties is actually quite small. People become successful politicians in the UK because of the vision and desires which they stimulate in the electorate, while pretending that they have some degree of control over the overwhelming exigencies of political and economic globalisation.

Bhikkhu Pesala's point is extremely pertinent. Would you vote for a candidate who claimed to promote social justice if they also promoted, say, abortion or euthanasia?
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Aloka
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Aloka »

josh71188 wrote:, I was wondering if any UK Buddhists out there had ever voted or intened to vote Conservative in a general election?
No, I haven't - but there have also been times when I haven't voted for anyone at all.


.
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purple planet
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by purple planet »

In every country and every city you never vote for a good candidate you just vote for the least worse candidate -
Coyote
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Coyote »

I tend to agree with others here. I am not particularly knowledgeable about UK party policies so have voted for the candidate I feel would be the best. With a representative democracy you are never going to get an individual or a party who lines up 100% with what you think are the best policies.
Never voted conservative but that's mainly due to family allegiance. I think they would disown me if I ever did :tongue:
"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared."
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dagon
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by dagon »

you might find this interesting

British Parliament debates: Buddhist mindfulness in place of drugs -
http://www.dailynews.lk/features/britis ... lace-drugs

metta
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Ceisiwr
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Ceisiwr »

I tend to vote for the Communist party of Britain or The Socialist Party. Have voted for the greens before as well.
“The teacher willed that this world appear to me
as impermanent, unstable, insubstantial.
Mind, let me leap into the victor’s teaching,
carry me over the great flood, so hard to pass.”
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Kim OHara
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Kim OHara »

Our political landscape here in Australia is rather similar (much more similar than the landscape itself, come to think of it :tongue: ) so some of you may find http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/ fun/interesting/useful. Just be aware that our Conservatives are the Coalition (of Liberal-by-name-only and National (essentially rural-conservative) parties). Our Labor is roughly the same as yours, as are the Greens. We have some small right-wing parties that I'm tempted to call a lunatic fringe but won't ... quite ... but they don't make much of an appearance in the quiz, if any.

:coffee:
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SarathW
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by SarathW »

My dream is to find a politician who follow Dasa Raja Dhamma.
I do not think that will happen in my life time.

flying :pig:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasavidha-r%C4%81jadhamma
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by chownah »

Who always keeps their campaign promises.......Nobody.
Who is not influenced by big money..........Nobody.
Who will serve in line with Buddhist ideas......Nobody.

The choice is clear, vote for Nobody.

Voting only encourages them.
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Ben
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Ben »

Kim OHara wrote:Our political landscape here in Australia is rather similar (much more similar than the landscape itself, come to think of it :tongue: ) so some of you may find http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/ fun/interesting/useful. Just be aware that our Conservatives are the Coalition (of Liberal-by-name-only and National (essentially rural-conservative) parties). Our Labor is roughly the same as yours, as are the Greens. We have some small right-wing parties that I'm tempted to call a lunatic fringe but won't ... quite ... but they don't make much of an appearance in the quiz, if any.

:coffee:
Kim
The only time in my life that I voted conservative was in the federal election before the last one. I knew the liberal party candidate - he was a friend and I knew he would have been a great representative for our electorate. I also know the newly elected (liberal party) representative for our electorate. His daughter and my daughter went through med school together and are best mates. I didn't vote for him despite my confidence in his abilities, but rather voted Green as a result of a lack of confidence in both our major parties, the lack of compassion in their policies and the morally dubious nature of their leaders.
kind regards,

Ben
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in mountain clefts and chasms,
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Kim OHara
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by Kim OHara »

purple planet wrote:In every country and every city you never vote for a good candidate you just vote for the least worse candidate -
Sarath and Chownah, this might be the best advice for you on this thread.
Voting for nobody gives a vote to the opponent/s of the least-worst candidate that you could have supported. And you don't want to support the most-worst candidate, do you?

:coffee:
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purple planet
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Re: Buddhism and the UK Conservative Party

Post by purple planet »

Here in israel I vote usually for the most right wing party i find ( in israel right and left has nothing to do with economy - in some ways in economy the israeli "right" is actually left) to the part who has a hard anti teror agenda and is against giving away land - and on the other hand i want to vote for a party who has animal rights agenda - there was a left wing party who claimed to be a "green" party - mainly in enviorment issues but also a little about animals

So i thought about this - and decided that if there is no israel - there wont be no animal rights anyway so i decided to choose the extreme right party - so in my view i choose from the least worst even though the party was not enough animal rights oriented in my opinion -

but after i decided i checked and saw that actually the right wing party has done a lot for animal rights much more then the left party - still its not enough in my opinion but i choose the least worst
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