I'm not a political animal. Like most people I don't know each of the party policies verbatim. I have a vague understanding of their main points. Last election I read through each of the big three's manifestos in order to make more of an educated choice instead of the usual educated guess. I tried to remove the noise that surrounds any election. I put away as many preconceptions, family traditions, historical voting preferences and in the end did what I always do and voted for the party I've always voted for.
But my point is, I voted. Now I could go on about freedom and democracy and why it's so disgraceful to waste our hard fought for vote - especially at the moment while other nations are fighting for those very privileges. But this sentiment has been thrown at people before and never made any difference. We seem to be a nation of arm chair politicians - we will moan and groan and complain and winge and whine to our little hearts content so long as we don't have to get up off our arses and do anything about it!
Like Mr Izzard once said our country could never have hosted the Spanish Inquisition - instead it would have been an insipid 'cake or death'? before retiring back to the soft furnishings with remote control.
Now the French! The French may be synonymous with a fast retreat but they're even faster off the mark when it comes to making their voices heard over unpopular internal policies. They seem more than happy to start another revolution providing lorries and sheep are involved.
So why are we so crap?
And then it came to me, we aren't - it's the parties and their candidates that are directly responsible for our apathy. For the last two general elections I've voted for the lesser of all evils - non seem to deliver anything close to acceptable across all areas so you go for the one you think'll cause least damage. It's no good voting for the Independent who mirrors exactly your views because, I'm sorry, but it IS a wasted vote. AND perhaps that's why AV didn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting in. It's bad enough choosing one party that doesn't totally abhor you but to have to choose another 2, 3 or even 4 would be inhumane!
But my point is, I voted. Now I could go on about freedom and democracy and why it's so disgraceful to waste our hard fought for vote - especially at the moment while other nations are fighting for those very privileges. But this sentiment has been thrown at people before and never made any difference. We seem to be a nation of arm chair politicians - we will moan and groan and complain and winge and whine to our little hearts content so long as we don't have to get up off our arses and do anything about it!
Like Mr Izzard once said our country could never have hosted the Spanish Inquisition - instead it would have been an insipid 'cake or death'? before retiring back to the soft furnishings with remote control.
Now the French! The French may be synonymous with a fast retreat but they're even faster off the mark when it comes to making their voices heard over unpopular internal policies. They seem more than happy to start another revolution providing lorries and sheep are involved.
So why are we so crap?
And then it came to me, we aren't - it's the parties and their candidates that are directly responsible for our apathy. For the last two general elections I've voted for the lesser of all evils - non seem to deliver anything close to acceptable across all areas so you go for the one you think'll cause least damage. It's no good voting for the Independent who mirrors exactly your views because, I'm sorry, but it IS a wasted vote. AND perhaps that's why AV didn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting in. It's bad enough choosing one party that doesn't totally abhor you but to have to choose another 2, 3 or even 4 would be inhumane!
No comments:
Post a Comment