Why vote?

Just look at the mess the world is in. Economic disaster following the “greed meltdown” of the banks and financial institutions; squabbles amongst the world’s richest nations about how little they can get away with (at the Copenhagen Summit) in helping the disadvantaged to cope with a climate change disaster they (the rich countries) have created; tawdry money grabbing tactics by expenses-manipulating UK politicians (as if a salary of £65,000 wasn’t enough – and Cabinet ministers / committee chairs get more); and so on.

Personally I feel politically disenfranchised. I do not believe that any of the three main parties in the UK truly has the interests of the nation (and the world) at heart, and the smaller parties just aren’t viable. Politicians of all parties have shown themselves to be dishonest (OK, not all, but enough), and the short-termism is obvious at almost every turn. (Just one recent example: universities no longer get funding for students who are taking a second degree of equivalent or lower status to one they already have. Yet with the change job market and higher levels of unemployment, what about the many who are seeking to retrain and move to different careers?) And then there is the sheer hypocrisy of finding trillions of pounds to bail out the banks (borrowing against future tax payers’ earnings!) yet unwilling to make radical decisions about the future of those very banks who caused the problems in the first place.

There’s an election coming up soon, but does it matter who we vote for? Whichever party gains power, will things actually change that much? I think not.

So here’s a radical thought for all UK voters – don’t vote. Only by showing a massive popular movement such as this (non violent) will this country’s politics and politicians really change!