President of Freedom Society Liam Taylor responds to a climate of political apathy and puts forward the case for the importance of voting, despite or even especially because of anyone’s hatred of politicians.
Photo Credit: _Hadock_ via Compfight cc
Nobody likes politicians. I’d be the last person to defend them. Indeed I have written before about why you should hate them. It’s perfectly natural to look at the bland, interchangeable options presented to you and ask, “What’s the point?” I understand perfectly well the instinct to declare a plague on all their houses and go back to watching TV. It’s no wonder many people don’t vote. But here are a few reasons why, instead of giving in to apathy or heeding the incoherent revolutionary cries of Russell Brand and his comrades, you should vote – especially if you hate politicians.
1) You Can Punish Them.
Kick ‘em out! If they break their promises then don’t buy their snake oil next time around. If you hate a politician then vote against them, or even go out and campaign against them. Even if you live in a safe seat. How can you expect change to happen if you don’t do anything about it? It’s the prospect of losing power, and the access to all those lavish expenses that come with it, that keeps politicians awake at night.
If you don’t vote then as far as they’re concerned you don’t count. If you don’t vote then they have no reason to listen to you. If you’re tired of spineless liars who don’t have a principal between them then don’t vote for them. Take satisfaction as they squirm, desperately trying to claw your vote from you, and enjoy the look on their face when they lose. Putting Nick Clegg on the dole will make those £9000 tuition fees go down a little easier.
2) It’s The Only Way They’ll Learn.
Politicians need us a lot more than we need them. How do we replace incompetent empty suits with men and women of integrity? Simple: if you want to get rid of spineless flip-flopping career politicians then don’t vote for them. How do we make sure that the people we put in charge put our national interests first? By kicking them out if they don’t, when they break promises or are otherwise incompetent. Either their survival instinct will kick in and they will give you the policies you want or they’ll lose and be replaced by someone of principal.
If we simply don’t tolerate their spin and PR we’ll get leaders who have genuine policies rather than a torrent of catchy headlines. If politicians know that a broken promise will mean they’ll be out of the job by the end of the week then they’ll be less likely to do it. The reason they keep breaking their promises is because they know they can get away with it. That we’ll still begrudgingly vote for them, moan about it in the pub but ultimately do nothing about it. Which brings us onto…
3) Don’t Waste Your Vote.
So goes the rallying cry of the crawlers running scared. “If you don’t vote for us then you’re wasting your vote.” You’re not. If anything, voting for them is wasting your vote. If you’re fed up of the mainstream parties letting you down, breaking their promises and putting their own interests above those of the country then vote for someone else. Anyone else. Whether it’s the Raving Loonies or the Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party that stood in Exeter’s last election. It can be surprisingly effective. An Italian comedian’s protest movement became the largest party in the Italian Parliament and The Polish Beer Lovers Party managed to win 16 seats in the Polish Parliament a few years back. There are dozens of parties out there to cater for just about every taste.
Don’t listen to the scaremongering, protest votes do matter and are an important part of democracy. Without it, politicians can just rely on people voting for them through gritted teeth, purely out of fear of the other lot getting in, and its business as usual. All three of the parties depend on it. And they don’t have any incentive to listen to you until you deny them your vote. People have fought and died for the right to vote. Don’t waste yours. Don’t waste it on the same old backstabbing liars and cheats.
How much difference does voting actually make? Is the problem with politicians or our system of government? Leave a comment below or write to the Comment team at the Exeposé Comment Facebook Group or on Twitter@CommentExepose.
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