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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...

No One Seems to have noticed

Let's be perfectly clear, and cut through all the tired old arguments here! The system is utter rubbish, here's exactly why in a nutshell.

Imagine I said: "Invest in my company, chose me. No, I don't have any books. There are no figures, no facts, no report card, accounting or accountablity. I will just tell you what we'll do with your money, you will have to accept it as truth, and no matter what happens I will not be held accountable nor reponsible... however, when we come and ask you for more money, if you don't like us anymore, then you can invest in another company -- which operates in exactly the same way, but wants to do different things with your dosh"

--- that's what the UK government is like when you think about it! How many times has your MP voted? Or even turned up? How much is his/her expenses? Salary? Is their record good?

How can we measure the success of a government without performance indicators, targets, budgets, to-do lists ticked off one by one?

Why can't an MP be sacked for being rubbish at being an MP?

Why are MPs not trained? Where are the courses for them? Why is it that any idiot can be marketed by a party (for people seem to vote for leaders or parties) and then become an MP?

Who monitors MPs? Who issues warnings, sacks them, tells them to 'buck up'.

What a great job -- why can't the rest of us work like that? We could just set ourselves up tomorrow as Brain Surgeons -- if we mess up, so what? We cannot be sacked, and we didn't need to be trained to do the job, if ya don't like it, then try your hand with another complete fool!
*sheesh*

written 7th May 2005

Responses

James Brown replies: While I definitely agree with everything you say, there is a site www.theyworkforyou.com that can answer the questions concerning what an MP does or doesn't do for his constituents.

Perhaps if more people took notice of it then MPs would be held more accountable, but I doubt it.

written 9th May 2005

Anonymous Councillor replies: Speaking of the Lib Dems, there are lots of training courses, especially at Party Conference. There's an approval process where would-be candidates are vetted on policy, campaigning, media & the like. If you aren't up to the level, you're given another chance to retrain.

They're even bringing in MOTs for would-be MPs, such as the one many of us saw in a high profile seat recently, so that someone who is not up to scratch can be dis-approved.

I'm proud of the calibre of our MPs, for a Lib Dem there's no such thing as a Safe Seat and the electorate are the toughest judge of all. All of ours are well-respected by local residents.

written 10th May 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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