Voting is a waste of time, frankly.
This is, I know, a shocking thing to say because democracy is a hard-won, valued right in our country, but I cannot bring myself to support any mainstream party in local elections on Thursday.
Why? Because all of them appear determined to reduce my freedoms, whether it’s the lingering restrictions of lockdown or new plans to change our very lifestyles thanks to zero carbon targets.
Big government looks set to dominate our lives for possibly decades to come and no one seems to be offering a proper opposition to the rise of this badgering regime.
There is opposition – Reclaim and Reform. However, they are small and not standing in every constituency. Where they are standing, then I would recommend voting for them. Here, we have the mayoral elections – and we do not need an elected mayor at all along with another useless waste of time, the police and crime commissioner. The main three cheeks of the authoritarian arse along with a green candidate are the options. It’s like going into a restaurant and being offered three dishes of dog shit with a side dish of cat poo and being expected to choose one of them.
I live in London.
While I was awfully tempted to endorse Sadsack’s championing of BLM by voting for the only Black candidate for Mayor (Shaun Bailey), instead I’ve decided to vote for Lozza.
I was with Laurence on Monday in Walthamstow. It’s a thankless task to do what he is doing but I showed my support all the same.
It is difficult as the media more or less ignore the small parties, and the general public is just lazy.
If only there was a vote of no confidence option on the ballot paper
This would work providing if that option won, none of the candidates are allowed to stand again for the next election.
Yay! I LIKE that idea!
Having the Welsh Assembly elections here.
I will obviously be voting for the Abolish the Welsh Assembly party with one vote and Reform with the other – but only because I can’t vote for the Abolish the Welsh Assembly party with both.
There’s no way I’m voting for BoJo the Clown’s blue socialist party.
At least with voting, we have a chance to decide which bunch will initially patronise us, then subsequently ignore us, backtrack on pledges, micro-manage and rule our lives, erode what liberty we have left, and do whatever suits themselves and their agenda.
Do we really have a choice? Doesnt matter who comes in, they’re all.uch the same
Voting matters, folk died for it.
My late father, one of those Eighth Army Desert Rats who fought six years for it and survived, took the view that, rather than voting for the one who would do you the most good, you should vote for the one who would do you the least harm, because none of them will actually do you any good. I continue his hard-won legacy.
That right also extends to withholding it. I will not approve any of the candidates because none of them is worthy of my vote.
Problem is that’s interpreted as apathy – if so disapproving of all the candidates, the least any voter should do is turn up and spoil the ballot-paper with a suitable message. All spoilt ballot-papers are seen/debated by party officials, so the message gets through, sometimes even stronger than a positive vote.
You could always put a line through the ballot paper and write NONE across it. I believe they have to say how many spoiled ballot papers were in the count. It’s the only other way to publicly protest I can think of.
Here in Scotland, my only aim in voting is to try and limit the damage of the Nicola Sturgeon and the demented porridge wogs of the SNP (and Alba I guess, if that meant anything). I can’t stand the Tories, but they’ll be getting my vote simply because everybody else is worse.
That’s a shit state of affairs if ever I heard one.
Dear Mr Longrider
If there is no Reform or Reclaim candidate, be the candidate. Former UKIP folk will help, the person who was agent would be the greatest help. If that is too scary, help Reform or Reclaim in your area: sign nomination papers, donate, leaflet.
This website is promoting an alternative: vote N O N E and put a single line through all the boxes.
https://www.votenone.org.uk/protest_votes_count.html
No alternative here, so NONE it is.
If enough vote NONE it will make the news.
DP
I seem to recall doing something similar in the last Scottish Parliamentary Elections, just scrawled “None of them. They are all bastards”.
Kinda expect that was seen as a “Spoilt ballot” or whatever rather than an actual vote for “None of the above”. Same sentiment though.
‘None of the above’
And if that gets more than votes, we don’t elect an MP. They rarely do anything as far as I can see. Seem to recall Belgium did rather well without an active parliament.
Need the option on the ballot form though.
Unfortunately, without the ability to pass legislation via voter initiative, we’ll never get any form of “None of the above” type rules on the statute books, because the professional politicians understand full well that this would be a means of rebuking politicians of all colours.
Look how long it took to get any form of electoral recall on the books and even that watered down version only seems to work in the most egregious of cases (Fiona Onasanya and Chris Davies).
If “None of the Above” legislation was to mean anything at all it would have to mean that (ideally) if “None of the above” wins the plurality of votes in first-past-the-post election then the seat is vacated for the remainder of the parliamentary term. Can’t see any of the blood-sucking leaches from any of the parties going for that.