Why I’m Not Voting Today
It’s Thursday 4th June. I know that there are elections going on today, but up until this afternoon I just thought it was for electing our MEPs. But it also turns out there’s local council elections taking place too. I probably should have figured that out from the leaflets I’ve had through my door, but… well whatever.
Let’s backup a bit. I said I thought the election was “just” for electing our MEPs. That sounds like it’s doing a diservice to the European Parliament. I don’t mean to belittle our MEPs, it’s just that I didn’t know this election was for anything else. And besides, I don’t even know what our MEPs do. I’ve heard a lot on the radio about voting for MEPs, but nothing about why we’re voting for them. I’m pretty clueless about politics. I don’t really take much active interest in it, but I do remember what I’ve been told by the media. And at no point have I ever been told what MEPs do or what the European Parliament does. With voter numbers (so I’ve heard!) getting lower and lower all the time I’d have thought somebody would have tried to get some information flowing and some interest building in an attempt to increase turn out. But I’ve hardly anything!
Which brings me onto those leaflets I mentioned at the start. I probably could have made the logical conclusion that there was a local council election going on too, but I didn’t. I assumed something about local people wanting to represent us in Europe. Was that stupid of me? Maybe, but how was I to know any better? No one has given me much information about this vote. I shouldn’t have to go and find information about this kinda stuff. Local government/candidates should be bringing this stuff to me! Now this is where the leaflets come in. I have had a grand total of 4 leaflets through my door in the past month about this election.
First, something from the Conservatives quite obviously attacking Gordon Brown and his labour governement. It told me why this present governement was rubbish and urged me to vote Conservative in the coming election. I think there was a general focus on European converns, but I can’t remember clearly. No info as to which Conservative candidate I should vote for, but overall a pretty detailed and professional leaflet.
Second I received a garish glossy piece of red and white BNP bullshit racist propaganda which spouted the usual BNP rubbish and got promtly binned. Focus was on immigration and all that BNP shit and nothing about local concerns.
The third leaflet I got was a truly terrible piece of white paper that looked like it was knocked up on someone’s computer and printed from home in the 80s. The message conveyed can be summarised as follows: “Hello I am a very nice old lady who has lived in your town for close to 30 years so know what’s best for your town. I will do great things for the elderly. Vote Labour.” Entirely unconvincing, but mad props for hinting that there might be something about a local election.
The fourth leaflet I received just the other day and was another professional looking attempt by the Conservatives. They had a short interview with David Cameron about what he will do change things when he’s in power, again focussed on Europe, with a short bit about why Labour are poop. But still nothing about which Conservative candidate to vote for and what my vote will do in Europe or any kind of information about how this will change my local council.
Now that it’s voting day I’ve toyed with the idea of going down the road to vote. But then I don’t know who the fuck I should be voting for. I’m not a racist fucktard so I’m not voting for the BNP. I don’t give a shit about the little old lady who’s lived here for nearly 30 years, so why should I vote Labour? The Conservatives are clearly leading the way for me with their 2 leaflets that actually had some information on, but still… what am I voting for? I could go and vote Conservative (which one!?) but I don’t know how that’s going to affect my local government and I don’t know how that’s going to affect the European Parliament. All I do know by this point is Gordon Brown is apparently useless. I like to think I’m intelligent, and that is not the political argument to sway the intelligent.
So fuck it, I’m not voting.
Final thought though: The fellas and I were reading about the BNP the other day and came across some stats (link currently eludes me) about the percentages of people who would possibly vote BNP. Turns out my town has one of if not the highest concentration of BNP sympathisers in the whole damn country. It’s looking like I should have at least gone to vote to ensure my local governement doesn’t get to be run by the fucking Nazis. I do not want my 15 minutes of fame to be down to my town helping destroy our basic freedoms.
John Robinson - designer, developer, coder... John’s not quite sure exactly how he should be labelled. Why not check out his blog and make a decision for yourself. He mostly talks about CSS, jQuery and the crazy world of the Interwebs, with a little bit of personal life thrown in for good measure.
