sawatdhi Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I would soon be making a paper on comparing Thai's two largest political parties Democrat and current TRT-successors to American two-party politics and spent some time and conclude that the Democrat Party in Thailand in my comparison has more similarities to the Republicans while the current TRT-successor and opposition is more like the Democratic Party. Of course there are big differences but in general terms am I correct in assumption that the Democrat Party of Thailand is socially conservative, economically conservative/less taxes while TRT-successors are generally on the other side being socially liberal, econ left-wing/more tax than Democrat Party of Thailand? Once again I apologize for making a thread but am somewhat desperate to know and move ahead in the topic, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEFLMike Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 With respect, why compare? Live and let live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawatdhi Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) With respect, why compare? Live and let live. I'm very interested in the political situation in Thailand and would like some more insights. For example I'm sure back in the UK most adults would be somewhat interested in educating themselves about what Labour and Conservative parties stand for. Edited May 5, 2009 by sawatdhi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DP25 Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 American political ideologies can not be applied to Thai parties. If anything, your observations are completely backwards, and the Thai Democrats are more like the American ones, and the TRT clones are more like the Republicans. The Thaksinist party is generally for free trade, anti union, and other 'rightist' economic causes, while at the same time supporting extreme socially conservative views, include the mass murder of thousands of the 'wrong' sort of people. But above all they are a patronage based party, based on payouts from Thaksin and elder clans. The Democrats are the closest you get in Thailand to the American Democrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawatdhi Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) American political ideologies can not be applied to Thai parties. If anything, your observations are completely backwards, and the Thai Democrats are more like the American ones, and the TRT clones are more like the Republicans. The Thaksinist party is generally for free trade, anti union, and other 'rightist' economic causes, while at the same time supporting extreme socially conservative views, include the mass murder of thousands of the 'wrong' sort of people. But above all they are a patronage based party, based on payouts from Thaksin and elder clans. The Democrats are the closest you get in Thailand to the American Democrats. Woah, if this being true colour me surprised edit: I assumed it was the other way around since the Thaksinist parties were branded as populist state-run economic/not buddhist conservative and gaining support from north, northeast, and central Thailand while Thai Democrats were known as generally more conservative less government economic intervention/pro buddhist and Thai military supporting conservative laws. Edited May 5, 2009 by sawatdhi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DP25 Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Actually, The Thai Democrats are closer to both the Republicans and Democrats in the US spectrum, the Thaksinist are somewhere out there out there on the far right that advocates killing people if it gets them in power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DP25 Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Woah, if this being true colour me surprised I'm sure you'll get plenty of replies saying I'm wrong. Either way, good luck with your paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumnien Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I think it would would be more accurate to describe the Democrats as the Bloods and the TRT as the Crips. The Thai power groups are both much more alike the gangs/mafias that prosper in the US regardless of which talking head pretends to be in power. Do people really think they can participate in democratically choosing the leaders of various brutal gangs/mafias? Would they want to? The drug war killings were cheered by all gangs in power and were hardly opposed by the Dems who put many of the same military and police henchmen in power. In the US, working folks are allowed a choice: they can support the continued killing of innocents in Iraq by voting republican or make a decision to move the country in a bold new direction by voting Obama and fuel the lust for killing innocents in Afganistan. Thus it becomes clear that the only truly evil people are those who are passionately for either side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) In the US, more educated people tend to vote democratic, while in Thailand more educated people would also tend to vote Thai democrat. In the US, more of the uneducated rural peasants, tend to vote republican, while in Thailand, the more uneducated rural peasants tend to vote for the Thaksin proxy party. Bottom line, your paper should conclude a 1 to 1 comparison of the Thai parties to the US parties DOES NOT EXIST. Edited May 5, 2009 by Jingthing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I think it's almost impossible to compare and contrast as the parties don't seem to have any solid ideology that stays the same. They chop and change like the wind. Parties are just places where mafia/police/army/vested business interests can join together easily in order to systimatically pillage the country. They lie to the people about the good they will do (just like everywhere else in the world), to secure the vote that will get them into power. Members of parties regulary cross the floor and jump from the sinking ship to which ever ship has more favourable winds and a good forecast at the time. The Demorcrat party has been around for a long time, most other parties often last no more than a year or two and are created by clans that group together and create factions where the nations most corrupt squabble together continually fighting over how to carve up the pie. Each faction never being happy with the size of their slice........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texpat Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) Thaksin got sh!t done. So yes, more like a Republican. Thai democrats are much like US democrats, wanky, apologist, do-nothing, hand-wringing suits. Edited May 6, 2009 by Texpat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johna Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Does it really matter, there is no accountability in either system. We are now being treated to the prospect of a referendum on change's to article 237 of the constitution, a constitution imposed by a Military Junta. This is farce, pretending a constitution imposed by force is actually worth the paper its printed on. As for comparisons between the US, UK, and Thai political process, Taksin murders 2500 Thais, Blair and Bush murders thousands of Iraqis, and none of them face a criminal investigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Does it really matter, there is no accountability in either system.We are now being treated to the prospect of a referendum on change's to article 237 of the constitution, a constitution imposed by a Military Junta. This is farce, pretending a constitution imposed by force is actually worth the paper its printed on. As for comparisons between the US, UK, and Thai political process, Taksin murders 2500 Thais, Blair and Bush murders thousands of Iraqis, and none of them face a criminal investigation. 1. The current Thailand constitution was approved by a large majority of eligible Thai voters (59.3%) in national vote. 2007 Constitution 2. The vast majority of the civilian deaths in Iraqi are due to " Anti-occupation forces" and not the actions of the either the US or British military. Iraqi Bodycount I know that you desperately wish both statements were true, but the fact remains, they are not. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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