They're not voting because...
- voting for a candidate is not democracy...
voting for a candidate is not democracy; it is futility. I can only vote for a candidate; the party chooses the candidate - I am not invovled in the selection process. If I vote on the basis of a manifesto, I have no way of enforcing it. It is not a contract. The winning party is under no obligation to make or break any law; it can do with its majority as it pleases. It is in any case unbelievably difficult for any new party to unmake the changes of the previous, due to the nature of our partliamentary structure, timetable and legal system. For any party to claim that it make drastic changes to public services within one month of office is either incredibly stupid or, more likely, thinks the electorate are. Finally, I have tried to engage in the democratic process and been firmly told that people like me are "simply not significant". The incumbent government has behaved reprehensibly, imposing laws designed to atagonise, oppress and punish the law abiding, tax the consiencious and demoralise the . Every single thing I do costs me twice as much now as it did five years ago, but services have become worse and indeed become aggressive, distant, bureaucratic and confrontational. But short of jailing myself for public disorder offences, there is nothing that someone earning so little with so small an influence in so safe a seat can do about it. Government does not represent me, or my views, It (necessarily) represents the views of those willing to support them (financially and ideologically) when in office - the super rich, the media and the wider global community.
written 28th Apr 2005