NotApathetic is closed to new submissions. The site is available as an archive for you to browse. Find out more...

Not Apathetic

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

They're not voting because...

The party system represents a conflict...

The party system represents a conflict of interest, My MP as my representative should reflect the opinions of myself and my fellow constituents over and above those of his/her party but the use of party whips ensures that in most cases this does not happen. Couple that with the onging drift towards middle of the road policy there is no longer a clear ideological difference between the parties. nowadyas elections have evolved into an american style presidential election ... who is the most popular party leader, for me independant candidates offer a much better option

written 19th Apr 2005

Responses

james replies: I agree, so I'm trying to find out my local PPCs' personal opinions for
http://gov.erdington.org

written 19th Apr 2005

Harry replies: Excellent, at last I am not alone.
Party politics DESTROYS democracy, the parties are driven by the need for the party to be successful, and will publicly ridicule and pillory its own members should they fail to agree the party line.
Members are worried about their careers and the huge wage cuts they will get if they are demoted, and so will rarely vate against the party whip.
If it were individual, independently-minded MPs representing us, we should get a more rounded and valuable representation.
As things stand we are experiencing the politics of the cult of celebrity and the wannabe culture that goes with it. If we had a formal written constitution which outlined our rights, locally proportional representation and actual government and parliamentry accountability, we could consider ourselves a democracy.
From the OED "Democracy" noun (pl. democracies) 1 a form of government in which the people have a voice in the exercise of power, typically through elected representatives. 2 a state governed in such a way. 3 control of a group by the majority of its members.
Definition 1 fails with party politics, as the party chooses what is to become law, not the population at large, if definition 1 fails so does definition 2.
3 fails because the group of voters that is represented tends to minorities not majorities, so the definitions all fail with party politics.

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.

Search