They're not voting because...
- It has never been explained to my satisfaction...
It has never been explained to my satisfaction why I should vote so that someone I do not know, who may well be my moral and intellectual inferior, gets a post paying 3 times the average salary with average "expenses" of £120,000, tax-free and not audited, plus subsidised food and booze etc. while being free to consider the job as part-time. The job requires no qualifications and has no job description. It has no attendance requirements. There are numerous unearned privileges. Everybody talks about "the market", but there are far more applicants than MP posts, so the market should award none of this above. No citizen's panel agrees any of these things - MPs vote themselves these things. Who else can you think of who is paid to cycle to work? Or paid even if they never turn up? This is blatant corruption. Oh yes, and they're incompetent as well. I will vote when a citizen panel decides MP salaries (unbribed I hope), set hours, minimum qualifications, tight job description, an end to privileges and perks, tough penalties for dereliction of duty, and full-time commitment. Otherwise I refuse to be conned.
written 22nd Apr 2005