Power to the People

I know you’re not supposed to talk about religion or politics, but I’ve never understood why, and I’ve never been one to blindly follow rules. I’d rather discuss the big, deep important issues that make people argue than maintain the trivial equilibrium any day, and surely not talking about them only serves to perpetuate the segregation, lack of communication, narrow-mindedness and apathy that cause serious, widespread disruption. There’s a general election looming in the UK, our Prime Minister handed in his notice this week and then took part in a much-hyped televised debate with all of the other major party leaders. So on this most religious of weekends, I’m going to write about politics. But fear not, I won’t impose my beliefs, or tell anyone what to do, mainly because I have no idea what to do myself.

I’m struggling with the same dilemma as it seems a growing sector of the UK population are in the face of this election, and that’s knowing what to do, who to trust, or whether to bother participating at all. I’ve completely lost faith in the party I supported in the 3 elections I’ve previously been eligible to vote in. I never, ever thought I’d say this, and my mother despairs of her parenting skills when I do, but for the first time in my life, I’ve even seriously considered not voting at all. It wouldn’t be an easy choice for me – I believe in democracy in its purest form and as somebody highly insignificant in our society in terms of social standing and wealth, by not exercising my power to vote I am flying in the face of all that it stands for. Abstinence would also be a difficult act to reconcile with my belief in feminism. Had I been around in the early 1900s, I’d have surely been out there among the suffragettes fighting for equal rights, so as a woman, I would never surrender that extremely hard-won entitlement without very good reason.

But although he often talks a lot of the kind of hot air that would usually be followed by an excretion from a male cow’s bum, for once I think Russell Brand has a point. We need something worth voting for, and there’s currently nothing. We know from recent decades, when all three of the major parties have had some level of control, that they’re now almost impossible to separate from their cosy little scrum in the centre ground. Everyone is sick of privileged, career politicians who seem to have no idea or care what real life is like for the majority of people living in this country, and no problem with ignoring their wishes and screwing them over. We know that none of them will really change anything drastically enough for a population who are clearly ready for a big change.

However, I also believe that apathy has no place in politics. Everything in modern life is political, and therefore everyone has, or at least should have, a direct interest in politics. But I think in a lot of cases it’s not apathy or indifference that tempts people to abstain, it’s total, impassioned disillusion. When the only three parties in serious contention all occupy startlingly similar territory and have all been recently proven as liars when it comes to implementing policies from their rosy manifestos and the expenditure of public funds, I question how that’s a choice, and whether we truly live in a democracy at all. And when the fourth party gaining popularity and a sneaky outside chance stands largely for their own idiotic brand of right-wing nationalism, I find myself embarrassed by my countrymen and really don’t know where to turn.

The sad fact is, I don’t trust or believe in any of the major political parties standing, or approximately 99% of their employees. I’m not even sure I believe in our archaic political system any more. So how can I possibly vote without being a total hypocrite?

We, in our increasingly disunited kingdom, hold ourselves up as an example of the developed, western, wealthy, successful, free world, but it’s mostly built on extreme capitalism, barefaced lies and clever publicity. We have all the same issues of social and economic inequality as everywhere else, we just seem to be better at brushing them under the carpet, spinning them into something justifiable, using other issues as a way to detract from them or just outright covering them up. We pride ourselves in not suffering from the high-level corruption and dictatorial governments seen in other countries, but the continuing MP expenses scandal, the tax-dodging loopholes for million, billion, zillion and squajillionaires, the Hillsborough justice campaign, the propaganda against immigrants and benefit clamants, the so-called ‘war on terrorism’, Operation Yewtree, the Leveson inquiry and other recent events too numerous to mention prove this to be completely untrue. High-level corruption is absolutely a major issue in our country, it’s just hidden away, lied about and only gotten away with by the incredibly powerful and wealthy. These aren’t things I could ever comfortably respect or support.

So on that basis, yes, some kind of protest, or rebellion, or revolution as Brand so flamboyantly puts it, would be the best thing the masses could do to invoke real change – not just in the leadership of the country, but perhaps in the whole system, and even our culture. However, I’m sensible enough to know that this plan will only work if NOBODY votes, and that’s never going to happen. There will always be the party stalwarts and the staunch upholders of our democratic rights who would never dream of abstaining. Russel Brand doesn’t seem to see that this makes his plan become very dangerous indeed. Ultimately, the rest of the populous not voting would only mean we ended up in a worse situation - being governed by the choice of the few, rather than the many. I suspect the non-voters would be among the first to complain.

Which brings me back to the dilemma of where to place my cross on the ballot paper. I briefly considered voting for one of the smaller parties, but I can’t help but see it as a pointless exercise. Perhaps if we had proportional representation it would be worth doing, but in our nonsensical ‘first-past-the-post’ voting system, it won’t achieve or change anything in the grand scheme of things, ultimately making it a wasted vote. Plus, there aren’t any of those I truly believe in either. The closest is probably the Green party, not only because they seem to be the only ones concerned with the environment and climate change, but also they are the only party who aren’t controlled by wealthy corporate sponsors and actively refuse donations from tax-dodgers. They are concerned with tackling problems at their root cause, rather than mopping up the consequences of obvious social problems. They also oppose austerity and stand for full nationalisation of the NHS and transport, as well as calling for a Living Wage for all workers. However, despite their appealing policies, I have no faith in their leader, Natalie Bennett, has continually shown weakness and a lack of knowledge during their election campaign. Plus it seems voting Green is not even an option for some, because they’re not a large enough party to have a candidate standing in every area.

While it would never be a consideration for me, it seems from the polls that a lot of people are leaning the opposite way, towards voting UKIP as a protest, or as the only alternative to the three major parties who can guarantee major change. I can understand why this is happening, but I find it so sad and scary that we’re following France in leaning towards the far right in our desperation, rather than using people power and coming up with a more liberal left alternative, as Greece and Spain seem to be doing. Nigel Farage spent the entire TV debate scapegoating, and I quote: ‘foreigners from 10 former communist countries’ for all the UK’s problems and outlining his plans to pull out of the EU, while conveniently ignoring that highly skilled, tax-paying immigrant workers are what keeps his precious NHS afloat and that his own wife comes from one of those EU countries and is employed by his party. Having said all that, I can’t deny that I actually admired him for keeping out of the schoolyard bickering the other leaders so often succumb to, and for at least having the balls to clearly state his beliefs and proposals despite their controversy, rather than pandering to his perceived voters like the lying, fawning, polished, heavily media-trained TV personality politicians we’ve grown accustomed to. In that sense, it’s easy to see why the voting populous are drawn to him. However, it’s almost amusing that such a traditionalist Briton can’t see the irony in a country that proudly invaded and colonised half of the free world closing its borders and cutting all ties with foreign countries. And I presume that the thousands of British expats (because strangely, it’s not called immigration when we do it) enjoying life in foreign climes will be allowed to continue.

Einstein once said that the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We’ve seen what nationalist, right-wing governments have done to Europe and the wider world before, and I can’t believe we’re willing to go down that road again.

But for the overall, tip-top, most important reason to vote, we only need look at the statistics from the last election in 2010, which left us with the ill-fitting and unsatisfactory Con-Dem coalition. Of the population eligible to vote, 10.7 million voted Tory, 8.6 million voted Labour, and 6.8 million voted Lib Dem. However, 15.9 million didn’t vote at all, which only goes to show what a massive difference that huge number of unused votes could have made to any of those figures, and to those of the lesser parties, who could have used that support to become serious contenders. We can also see from the policies implemented by the current government and the targeted manifestos surfacing now that each party works hardest to serve those groups of society who bother to go out and vote for them. At the last election, 76% of pensioners used their vote, compared to 44% of 18-24 year-olds. As a result, we saw university tuition fees reach astronomical levels, housing benefit removed for the under 25’s and plans to force the young unemployed to do voluntary work for their welfare payments. Meanwhile, even the wealthiest pensioners kept all their benefits and perks, were excluded from the bedroom tax and had their private pensions protected against inflation and made easier to access. Incomes for the over 60’s have risen 1.8% since the economic crash of 2008, while incomes for the 22-30 age group have dropped by 7.6% in the same period. Interestingly, the Conservative party had a lead of 12% over Labour among voters over 55 years of age, while Labour received more votes from the 18-24 year-olds. Little wonder then, that Ed Miliband is pledging to cut tuition fees and increase affordable housing available to the young. The point is, if you want the government to meet your needs, or to represent you at all, the only way to do it is to curry their favour and vote for them.

At a time when voters and their rights are largely ignored, it’s difficult to keep believing that voting is an effective way to instigate change. But when there’s no alternative, when protests and revolutionary acts are also ignored, or worse, met with a violent response and/or punishment from the establishment, voting is the only power we have. Never forget how fortunate we are to live in a state of relative freedom and to have the option of exercising those freedoms in choosing and influencing our government. In the current system, voting is the only way we can realistically instigate change, and therefore it’s more important than ever that we all actively utilise our democratic rights and call out those MPs to make life fairer for their constituents. Left with a choice of feeling like a hypocrite and either voting tactically, to avoid the worst-case scenario as I see it, or just picking the best of a bad bunch, I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for, but I know I have to vote, and I know the only way to create change is to make yourself heard. I hope everyone, especially the young, the poor, the disenchanted, and the under-represented recognise the importance of their input. If you can’t see a way to vote to make things better, then consider voting to prevent making things worse. Even the small impact your voice can make is surely better than having no say at all.

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