I’m writing this post more in response to my friend Seans post on the BNP and voting. Rather than write a whole ream as a comment I will post here with my own opinions on similar topics. You can find the link the Seans blog on the right hand side.
So, voting…
We are all told, consistently, that we should vote. If we want to have a voice we should. Recently there have been many adverts whose primary goal is to try to mentally blackmail you into voting. They depict a man living his every day life and coming across various things around him that he doesn‘t like and would like to change. He sees the price of products and starts to complain about it, only for his friend to shut him up and the advert tell you “he hasn’t voted, he has no voice, he has no right to an opinion”.
I am very much a telly shouter. By this I mean I get rather annoyed at the television and shout at it as though it might actually reply or take notice. When these adverts are on, I’m verily screaming at it. What the government is saying with this advert is that you, the individual, are nothing. You are a nobody, a powerless, useless entity that does not even have the right to free thought unless you vote for someone.
WAIT A GOD DAMN MINUTE!
So, they are telling me that unless I vote I am not allowed to complain? Not allowed to have an opinion? This is a blatant attempt to strip the individual of any power he has and pass it to the politicians. They expect us to trust them….TRUST THEM! I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire.
Ever since I was at high school we have been pressured to vote. In private discussion people say you should vote, even if you don’t like any of the parties. “Just the pick the lesser of the evils” I’m often told…..ahm no thanks.
I haven’t voted in either a local or general election for four years now. This will remain the order of business until such time tat a party or individual presents themselves that actually earns that vote. Meanwhile I shall continue to do what I do. I have many an opinion on state matters, I voice those opinions, I act on those opinions just like anyone else would. Is my opinion any less powerful given that I don’t vote?
Do you actually think that you vote means your opinion is heard?
Do you actually believe that when a politician says “vote for me and I will do this…” that it is going to happen?
If you believe that….oh dear.
Having studied politics at college my politics teacher took great pleasure in pointing out all the various “tricks of the trade” including…and this one was just cracking…the politicians firm belief and understanding that anything he says to his constiuency…ANYTHING…is forgotten within 18 months.
Don’t believe me? Go check out old local papers and see what various politicians say about what they are going to do. Then literally jump ahead approx 19months and check what you can find on the same politicians…at month 19 they are able to go ahead with complete policy change unabated without the fear of being picked up on it. The only time this doesn’t really apply is for national leaders whose policies are scrutinised far more heavily. Even then they attempt it from time to time though.
Mastering the art of deception…more commonly known as political tactics. Bah!
Tags: politics, society, voting
Okay – all politicians are bullshitters (standard dictionary definition) and all political parties amount to much the same in the end. But – barring violent revolution (tempting) or opting out of normal society (more tempting) what’s the alternative to voting.
Surely it’s all we’ve got (use it or lose it) although I’m willing to listen to alternatives.
The alternative to voting..?
Not voting
Saying that, in all truth i suppose I do vote. An abstention is a vote, a vote for none of the above. In the houses of parliament, when they are arguiing the toss over something, abstentions are counted as votes, much as they are in most other voting situations. Yet in politics they try to convince us it is a bad ting, that we are “wasting” our vote. Nah, the wasted vote is the vote that is made because you think a party is the “lesser evil” or because you only dont want to vote for the “other party”.
These latter two approaches I feel are more prolific within the voting population that anyone would ever admit.
Who is wasting the vote? You say violent revolution is tempting, well votal revolution is a start.
Here is a theory. Lets say we created a new political party – The Abstention Party – and our manifesto was a simple one. Vote for us and we promise that when in power we will do nothing other than force a rethink/rebuild of the current outdated, badly constructed political system. We will make choosing no one a powerful voice.
If this was done with sincerety how many do you think would vote? Over time, one helluva lot I imagine.
Remember when we were pushing for the LEA to accept paganism on its list of religions? Did the fact that any of us either did or did not vote have ANY bearing onthat at all? No.
To vote is to pass the buck I suppose. It is to say “i want change, i dont want it bad enough to do anything myself so im pointing my finger at (inster politician here) in the sincere hope he does it for me.
Problem with that?…they rarely do what they say on the tin.
I’m fond of this anarchist approach whereby a special interest group (pagans, vegans, no borders etc.) can lobby for some specific change in an otherwise unfair system.
The problem I have is that the abstentions are NOT COUNTED AS VOTES in any election involving the general public – this means that extremists such as the BNP are able to increase their overall percentage of power in the present political system and therefore also their psychological influence over the general public.
As it stands, nearly 1 in 5 peope in my area voted for right-wing extremism – had everyone eligible voted that could possibly have dropped to as low as 1 in 15.
The only abstention that IS counted (and one I’ve used myself) is to spoil the ballot paper.
Less than 1% of people do this but it is taken into account as a protest vote and alters the figures, at least in a small way.
Our present system assumes (quite logically) that non-voters are happy enough with the status-quo not to care what changes may occur. The ones who vote are assumed to be the ones who wish to say something. Spoiling the ballot paper strikes me as the best way of saying “none of the above”.
The only problem with that is we’re taught that it’s naughty and not the thing to do. Most people who don’t vote don’t do it as a protest, they don’t vote because they can’t be arsed – to spoil the ballot paper would require thought and effort in the same way as it would to make any other actual vote.
Most people moan about the government in the same way as they moan about the weather. They have no intention of doing anything about it nor do they think they can, they just like to moan. To deliberately not vote is not taken into consideration by our electoral system because it can’t be registered as a protest. Therefore it is ignored and only the marks on the ballot paper are counted.
I recommend voting in the next general election by drawing a large and graphically life-like penis right across the whole paper. They’ll register that!
I always exercise my right to vote. If there’s no-one whose policies I approve of I won’t vote for the lesser of available evils, I’d spoil my ballot paper, but I insist on using my vote.
This, for me, is my way of honouring my ancestors. We’ve not always had the right to vote. The Franchise for women is less than 100 years old. It wasn’t until 1918 that women were able to vote (but even then you had to be over 30, a householder or the wife of a householder, or a university graduate). It wasn’t until 1928 that women had the same voting rights as men. I spotted a school worksheet about the sufragette movement that described all the things a woman could do and still not have the right to vote (be doctors, teachers, parents, factory workers etc) and all the things that men could be without losing the right to vote (be drunkards, insane, criminals, etc).
Using my vote is my way of honouring my great-grandmother who was one of those who campaigned for women to have the same rights to have a say in how the nation is run as men do.
Also, as Sean said, abstentions are not counted as protest votes, they’re counted as votes for the status quo. Newspapers and TV might go on about “voter apathy” and public dissatisfaction with the political system we have, but nothing will be done about it.
Can you believe that in some mexican villages, women have no say whatsoever in how the community is run? The move to respect the customs of indigenous peoples means that men run the communities and women aren’t even considered to be citizens (and therefore are not permitted to attend meetings let alone vote or run for office) – read more here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22869022/
I’m not saying that people who don’t vote have no right to complain – of course you do, everyone does. But with a party like the BNP gaining in popularity among the ignorant and ill-informed, it brings us that bit closer to a return to those days when only a privileged few had the right to any say in how things are done.
Our rights have been eroded enough already what with paranoid anti-terrorism laws and I want to try and protect the rights we still have.
Use it or lose it indeed, because if the BNP ever get any real power, that’s what’ll happen. Maybe that’s just me being paranoid, but it’ll start with only those considered to be citizens having the right to vote, and gradual redefinition of who is and isn’t a citizen.
I am not having that happen here.
I agree that having a party like the BNP in any form of power is a step backwards within any political system. I will clear that one up for a start. An abstention being a vote for the status quo…well I suppose it is, yes.
Be honest, at this point now, in 2008 – would a change of political power actual mean a change in politics?
Not at all.
If the Tories where to get into power at the next election, and it is looking like more of a possibility than previously – would this spell any form of major change for me as an individual?
No.
The fact there are political parties themselves is a laughable state of affairs. There is no room for change, no room for political difference. It all works on a very simple to and fro yo-yo system that for some reason the average joe public is too ignorant or thick to get his head around. I really cannot see what is complicated abouit drawn out political rhetoric.
Does the NHS need more money? Course it does.
Do we need more foot based police on patrol?
Yes
(this list could go on and on and on and on, so you get the idea)
Each party knows it cannot do all of them, so they pick some.
The opposition will always pick some that the party in power is not doing and claim they care more, meanwhile picking a few that the part in power ARE doing and claim they will do the exact same thing but somehow it will be better, just because they did it.
Meanwhile the party in power will be on a permanent defensive against the opposing poower, all the while the “third” parties and below enjoy picking chucks out of everyone.
What changes?
Nothing – we are just on a four year cycle is all. If the powers that be say that they are gonna focus on the NHS and thepolice then for four years expect schooling or something similar to suffer, all the time the opposite will say school is the most imortant thing.
Ye gods I am completely stating the obvious, knowing that a “lot of people” know this – yet STILL people insist that these things matter, that voting counts, that we must stand and be counted.
Dont know how censorship works on here, so lets test it out
BOLLOCKS!
Sean, just to comment on something you said in your first reply…violent revolution.
When a country in the past has needed dramatic change, people have resorted to this and changed their future.
What has changed? the “system” got to us – it got to the masses – we now have neither the balls, the inclination or the drive to do it anymore.
If the second world war dropped on this country right now all over again oh my god, we would flat out lose.
You’re right that nothing practical will change, but I’ll still vote. I’m also all for scrapping the “system”.
The possibility of violent revolution being necessary to overthrow a government that does not represent the people is the reason the Americans have the right to keep and bear arms enshrined in their constitution. Given that, how come Dubya got two terms? How come nobody started a revolution when he got into power before all the votes had been counted first time round?
In the UK, we haven’t had the right to arm ourselves for years now, but even having that right hasn’t changed anything in the US.
I’m really pessimistic about the future of the human race when all we can do about unfair and corrupt systems is whinge about them on our blogs. Oh well…
Hope you had a good birthday, btw. I’m letting the boys out for your party, I’m minding the kids tomorrow night. Hope it’s a great night!