They're not voting because...
- Castles full of Rascals...
Firstly, living in Northern Ireland I would really only see my vote lead to any form of representation if I opted for one of the local parties, coming as they do in two parochial flavours; orange or lime - and both of these reactionary outlooks make a mockery of what is supposed to be a 21st century society. However, the real objection I have is that politics has been one of our longest millstones as a species; self-serving, backbiting, unrepresentitive, and so on - something I resent deeply. The centralised, top-down scheme of British democracy cannot but result in conflict, corruption, deception and other forms of thoroughly unethical behaviour. As has been observed by cynics in the past, the biggest problem with democracy stems from the blissful ignorance of the people who underscore it - and this is compounded by the embarrasing show-business runaround of the campaign circus. Being a radical idealist, a national government is also an arbitrary construction, like national identities, flags, mores and borders themselves. A reassessment is in order - top down control is insane, and what I see as the most significant approach would be a power that resides with people in smaller groups, interacting - not having a system that scrubs out objections from the 'grass roots', removing all public level involvement through layers of beaurocracy. Power? Who are we to decide who gets power? Last time I checked, each individual was an individual, and pretending that any form of selective central control represents anyone is a nonsense. The economy can go to hell, my main concerns lie with humanity, our inability to understand our condition, and our seeing delight in destroying our planet. Waiting times on the NHS?? I'm more concerned about the inconsistency between high-street consumerism, global econocracy, and the children who could be saved for the price of a video phone. Impractical as it is, the 'philosopher' makes no claim to living in any form of 'real world'.
written 24th Apr 2005
Responses
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Hamish replies: Brilliant post. Best reason for not voting I've seen so far. Viva Zapatista! So will you be spoiling your ballot, or is that too trivial, or objectionable in some other way?
written 24th Apr 2005 -
Jon replies: I took myself off the register. I asked a question a few years ago in a politics lecture as to what would happen if a majority of the population removed themselves from the register - by default, any election would be undemocratic, which is a problem for a democracy. I didn't receive an answer to the question, and, to me, this says it all. Spoiling ballots, to me, seems a little childish - refusal to participate by not even offering yourself as a full member of the 'society' seems to make a much more clear picture; you may be unable to vote, but if the object is to highlight discontent, not even wishing to be involved in a false system seems more forceful. Even the language of our system 'left or right' ignores the potential for other axes of thought - I would like a populus revision seeking to move FORWARD, or UPWARD, not sideways along some abstract political rail. Needless to say, I'm loved down the pub...
written 24th Apr 2005
