I guess you could say I’m politically apathetic. I care enough to watch the news, but not enough to vote. Yes, I’ll admit it: I don’t vote.
I clearly remember the mid-90s ad campaign that zipped up the electorate’s mouths with the words: “If you don’t vote, you don’t have a say”. I disagree. My say is right here, right now, and I’m saying I don’t want to vote for broken promises and one-upmanship. Most of all, I don’t want to vote for who I see on TV or read about in the papers. Putting oneself under such scrutiny is surely only for self-loathing sadists who enjoy humiliation. And that, I’m afraid, is what I think of today’s politicians.
Take the London mayoral campaign, for example. We’ve got the bumbling buffoon, the teary-eyed anti-Semite, the silenced woman and the gay policeman. They’re all just massive parodies of themselves. Now, I’m not saying there’s truth in any of the above statements. I don’t know these people from Adam. They might be quite pleasant. And that’s exactly my point: all fall foul of the media’s vicious pen, where policy is ignored in favour of their lifestyle, gender or something one of them said out of context a decade ago. There’s virtually no coverage of independent candidates and my view – everyone’s view – is stained by public image and perception.
You could call me a massive hypocrite. After all, I work in the media, don’t I? I write, with my ‘poisonous pen’, my opinions, and in doing so I shape your opinions (please).
Well let me be frank: I don’t care. I don’t care about who becomes Mayor of London. I don’t care about the policies, because I don’t believe a word they say. And most of all, I don’t care about them as people – their backgrounds, their careers and how they think they can help me.
Here’s a real plea: make me care. I don’t want to be left feeling so faithless. I love London, and I want real changes implemented.
I also want a real leader to come along and shake me out of my political coma; someone who can instill some life back into our economy and political sensibility. But for now, I’m still waiting…
If the no voting attitude prevailed then we might end up with only three people voting in a general election.
Cameron would vote for Clegg because he is a pussy. Clegg would vote for Milibland because he could feel superior and Milibland would vote for Cameron because he tossed a coin and ten times out of nineteem it came up tails.
Whilst I agree with your disdain for politicians, if you don’t vote it means you’re letting them get away with being so crap. Blogging gives you a voice, but it’s easy for them to ignore unless you get a really massive following.
Better to go to the polling station and just write “All Useless!” across your voting form. If enough people do this maybe the message will get through that the population in general want something better from the people who think they deserve to be in charge.