Reasons not to be apathetic 3- Votes count.

The polls have started to behave strangely. Now don’t get me wrong, I am far from convinced by Nick Clegg, but his ratings in the polls following the leaders debate, show that the tantrum I threw – was not a tantrum I was having in isolation.

You could probably have sent the dancing dog from Britain’s Got Talent up there, and he would have garnered some of the frustration that people feel at the choice between Labour and Conservatives. Have someone stood there, who made the right call on Iraq, with a Chancellor who has been vocal about banking reform? Ouch. That isn’t a dancing dog.

I may not be convinced by Nick Clegg yet, but I am convinced by the British people. We have long been accused of being apathetic, when the reality is that many of us are just so angry at politicians. The financial crisis, our age of perpetual war, the erosion of our civil liberties-the willingness of politicians to demonise us for business’s mistakes- have all resulted in a loss of confidence in our two main parties.

The polls going haywire, shows that we still have a choice. I have long thought we were coming to a culture change. The internet means that the silent majority cannot be dismissed as silent any more- and there are many candidates standing who could do a great job for Britain. All political parties start from the grassroots. Our votes matter.

This election gives us a chance to change the shape of our parliament radically, and the polls indicate that we are more than ready to do so. I have heard predictions that this election may have one of the highest turn outs in recent years, and I believe it might. Democracy does work.

There are never just two candidates on the ballot. There are independents, there are Lib Dems, there is the Green Party. There are MP’s on all sides of the house, who work hard to ensure that they serve their constituency.

I believe that electoral reform is an inevitability, but right now you can vote, and you don’t have to vote for someone you don’t believe in, because you fear your vote might be wasted. What would happen if everyone voted to their conscience? Would it be so bad? Would the logistical difficulties of a hung parliament be so difficult to overcome, if the alternative is a parliament that doesn’t represent anyone?

Reasons not to be apathetic 2: David Cameron

I live in a seat where the Conservative party are spending a great deal of money and time trying to convince the people who will be hit hardest by this recession, that losing their basic public services, at the time they need them most is an ‘invitation to govern’.

This is not just anti-tory sentiment. The politics of individualism is a necessary force in politics. We should always strive to strike the balance between the individual and the state. Ensuring free market principles help our private sector flourish, and that the state invests in society as a whole, is a difficult balance to maintain. It is a balance which depends on honest debate and a healthy opposition. Cameron doesn’t offer that.

When Osborne says ‘protect the wealthmakers’; he doesn’t differentiate between the companies who make wealth for themselves, and keep it offshore, and the companies who truly offer Britain something. Jobs with wages that aren’t so low, they have to be subsidised by tax credits and housing benefit. Companies who pay tax, who distribute money round the economy, rather than sucking the life out of it. Companies who haven’t rigged the market so badly, that British businesses don’t have a hope of competing.

How precisely does Britain compete in a global economy, if it refuses to invest in its population- demonising them instead, and blaming them for the failures of big business?

This man is happy to bow down to Christian right wing lobby groups and place abortion at the centre of his political campaign. Sod that it will hurt the handful of women each year, who have to make the heartbreaking decision to terminate a pregnancy post 20 weeks. His Shadow Home Secretary, allows himself to be publicised by one of the most homophobic, hateful lobby groups that exist at the moment, while Cameron gives interviews in Attitude-hoping that we won’t notice his hypocrisy.

If I wanted the christian right wing, and business interests to dominate my economy, I would have moved to the US under George W Bush.

This political manifesto appears to be the bastard child of a Sarah Palin and the Daily Mail, and should be enough to jog anyone out of political apathy. Especially if they live in an area the Conservatives are targeting.

‘Broken Britain’? I suppose the mechanism which allowed banks to suck a trillion quid out of the economy is faulty-but it isn’t beyond fixing. I am not sure pouring millions into a £3 bribe for women to stay married, will do it though. It wasn’t single parents and immigrants who broke Britain, and I am not sure a platform of ‘small government big business’ will fix it. But Cameron’s lot are angry that Brown called Goldsmith Sachs ‘morally bankrupt’- not at Goldman Sachs for being thus.

THis election shoudl have been a shoo in for Cameron. But his manifesto is one of the most dangerous, hateful, ignorant manifestos to be released by any party in recent years. You can’t pretend to shed the toxic aspects of the Conservative brand, and hope that noone notices you have actually based your entire manifesto around them. There is a reason the Conservatives are limping along in the polls- and Cameron and his platform is that reason.

My vote isn’t worthless now, but it might be after Cameron has completely turned us over to the forces that have brought us to our knees. While the global recession was unexpected, Mr.Cameron has wasted no time in exploiting it as an opportunity to finish what Thatcher never dreamed of. At least she had the decency to say there is ‘no society’.

Reasons not to be apathetic: 1

Not voting is akin to saying that there is nothing of value at all in the political process, and if you had really reached the point where your vote could do nothing, you would be duty bound to have a revolution. As I have neither the time nor the inclination to have a revolution, I am guessing things aren’t that bad yet.

Right!

Am over my tantrum(and lets face, it was a tantrum). Of course am going to vote. This election may actually be quite interesting. I have a blog post- but I also have a house which may cross over the lines of ‘fitness for human habitation’- so it will have to wait.

In the meantime- this  amused me(and delayed the inevitable quest to discover what the slime is in the fridge).