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Not Apathetic

Tell the world why you're not voting - don't let your silence go unheard

They're not voting because...

The lesser of two evils argument no ...

The lesser of two evils argument no longer works, I cannot, categorically, vote Conservative, I have deep personal reservations brought on by growing up in Thatcher's Britain. I cannot, it seems, vote Labour, as they no longer represent the socialist viewpoint I took them for when I first voted. The Lib dems make their beds with whoever will get them power, the Greens haven't a hope in hell and over-emphasise their environmental policies. UKIP, Veritas, the BNP, I don't ever intend to vote for racism. What can I do except spoil my ballot? There is no other way to register my discontent.

written 18th Apr 2005

Responses

Matthew Brown replies: Whilst no party will ever reflect totally your opinion, shouldn't you vote for the one that most closely matches it? Whilst Labour once stood closer to your point of you, it still seems that it is the party that you most closely identify with. And a lot of that socialism still exists in the back-benches.

written 18th Apr 2005

Corinne Pritchard replies: Yes, I'm aware of that. But for every remaining true socialist there is a New Labour lackey willing to strike down their values at Tony Blair's whip. I *want* to vote Labour, but New Labour feels like a foreign country, with its prevarication over Europe, its path of least resistance policies on hospital privatisation, its unwillingness to tackle the Conservative blunders that weakened the system, instead letting them run their course.

The entire country voted for socialism, and it didn't get it.

written 18th Apr 2005

Jax replies: The Greens are the only proper anti-corperate party, sure they wont win, but a vote still counts for them.
Might make the major parties think differently if other parties start getting more votes.

Sure their environmental policies are bit harsh, but as you say they wont get in, so it's ok to vote that way.

written 18th Apr 2005

Jon replies: "The Lib dems make their beds with whoever will get them power" but Kennedy has made it clear he won't form a "Lib/Lab" pact. Did you miss that bit, or do you simply not believe him?

written 18th Apr 2005

adam replies: testing in ff...

written 18th Apr 2005

Chris replies: The Greens seem to be a good home for socialists and I am considering voting for them. They seem to have more support than they actually get votes...if we don't vote for the best party, we will always have the problems we have today. Vote with your principles, not by judging who will win.

written 18th Apr 2005

Chris replies: The Greens seem to be a good home for socialists and I am considering voting for them. They seem to have more support than they actually get votes...if we don't vote for the best party, we will always have the problems we have today. Vote with your principles, not by judging who will win.

written 18th Apr 2005

Michael replies: I have to take issue with Matthew Brown's comments when listening to the current Labour Government. I hear time and time again that if it's in the manifesto then they have a mandate to do it. Well true but what sort of mandate is it when it's not even half of those that vote and bearly half the electorate have voted and amongst these supporters are plenty who probably only agree with a portion of the programme.

written 18th Apr 2005

Richard replies: The problem with the current voting system is that voting by your principles often doesn't give you any representation in government whatsoever. You often have to compromise those principles to some degree in order to acheive representation within government for at least some of your views, else what would be the point of voting in the first place?
Wouldn't it be great if your vote was transferable? If you could place your green party candidate first, and then in the event that they don't get enough vote, your vote is transfered to your second choice and so on. You could even make sure that racist groups like the BNP never get in power, by making sure they are your least preferable.

written 18th Apr 2005

Ed replies: Further to Jon's post, re. "Lib dems make their beds with whoever will get them power" not only has Kennedy made the announcement that they wouldn't share power, on a more general level the Lib Dems are convinced that there's currently a shift in the political system. See their rejection of the old left-right analysis and their very stark movement away from Labour, which drew uncharacteristically heated reactions from Blair in PMQs over the last few years.
All in all, lumping all the parties into one pot appears to me to be a short-cut to thinking.

written 18th Apr 2005

Corinne Pritchard replies: The Libdems won't make a pact with Labour? Perhaps you missed the bit about how terrified the idea of a Tory government makes me. That the Libdems would even consider allying with the Conservatives at *any* point for *any* reason fills me with revulsion.

As for the Greens, I'm one of the few people whose looked at their social policy and I happen to agree with the vast majority of it. However, they over-emphasize their environmental policy to a ridiculous degree, advertising themselves as a "forsaking everything else, we'll save the environment" party, something which I find incredibly blinkered. Until they get their act together and stop running on a single-issue policy, I won't even consider giving them my vote.

written 18th Apr 2005

dan replies: Now that's a quote of the day - the Greens "over-emphasise their environmental policy"...! Never expected that one! I, to be honest, prefer them as a single issue party, which removes the quandry I have with the other parties which each have policies that I agree with and policies I don't agree with (or are just plain abhorrent). Vote green, get a bunch of die-hard environmentalists. Hardly rocket science...

written 19th Apr 2005

About Not Apathetic

NotApathetic was built so that people who are planning not to vote in the UK General Election on May 5th can tell the world why. We won't try to persuade you that voting is a good or a bad idea - we're just here to record and share your explanations. Whether ideological, practical or other, any reason will do.

A lot of users would like us to mention that if you spoil your ballot paper, it will be counted. So if you want to record a vote for "none of the above", you can.

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