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Today the UK goes to the polls to elect a government.
The basic strategy of the parties is as follows:
Labour: vote for us or the Conservatives will get in, and they are worse than us
Conservatives: vote for us or Labour will get back in, and they are worse than us
Liberal Democrats: vote for us or either the Conservatives or Labour will get in, and they are both worse than us
Scottish Nationalists: vote for us because if there is a hung parliament, and if we have enough members, we might, intermittently, be able to squeeze the occasional concession out of whoever is in power.
All other parties: vote for us because they're all a bunch of thieving bastards and it's your only way to register a protest
The alternative of not voting just means any of them will get in, but the non-voter, who refuses to take part in the *cough* democratic process, has no moral authority to bitch about it
Call it what you like, but it ain't democracy in my book
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You have to go make your mark nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteStill and all I'm off to vote when the rain stops.They say they are going to take the electoral system in hand and make it fairer. One lives in hope.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Even so, I'll be scratching my cross later today.
ReplyDeleteSounds downright American- except you have more choices to complain about!
ReplyDeleteHi Kim.
ReplyDeleteGuess what ? you´re right !
That isn´t democracy that´s hipocrisy.
It´s in times like these that i always remember that famous scene from "Network" (i dunno if you ever saw this film).
When everYbody stick their heads out the window and started shouting :
I´M MAD AS HELL AND I´M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE...
Still,i feel the need to quote Mulder from the X files:
I WANT TO BELIEVE !(in democracy,that is).
When I was much younger and way more naive, I was a vote counter for one election. One slip had, in big bold letters, 'THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT' written across it. Of course, it was classed as an invalid vote.
ReplyDeleteBut to some extent, its rather pertinant. Left wing tends towards the right and Right wing tends towards the left so really they are all the bloody same!
"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared & the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry." George Eliot
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Starrlife's comment. Couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteLOL again at LibraryGirl's "This is total bullshit." Someone's got a way with words. Succinct, but to the point.
I sent off my postal vote a week ago. I am skeptically hopeful. Contradictions in terms?.... Err.... yes. :P
Oh and LOL @ "foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of poultry."
You guys are a riot.
I have a close friend in the US Senate (Jon Tester-D). He said there is so much corruption on both sides of the isle. He flies home every weekend to be out of D.C. Discouraging.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever read 'The Queen and I' by Sue Townsend? It's about the Conservatives winning the general election, overthrowing the monarchy and sending the royal family to live in a housing estate in the Midlands (Hell Close). It's actually quite funny. And I've never even been to Britain. :)
ReplyDeleteNow living in Spain, this is the first time I haven't voted in a UK elections since I was 18. It's been quite interesting viewing it from the sidelines knowing I didn't have a mark to make. I think I watched it with a whole new perspective yet still came up with the same view and Bearded One...
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on!
And you;ll probably have it all to go through again in 6 months, memories of Heath & Wilson days!
Thank you all for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI did vote, although because of the area I live in, by not feeling I could bring myself to vote for either of the main parties, my vote counted for nothing.
The same MP stayed in place, and his main rival stayed in 2nd place.
I vote because there are people who have fought and died to allow me to. But I feel no sense of pride in being able to do so when the choices are politicians.
At least you know someone else will not come and vote on your "behalf" even if you choose not to vote and the rest of the paraphernalia that comes with it.
ReplyDelete