CAN HAZ NEW GOVT?

[tamaranth]

Please vote.

Even if you think it's a wasted vote, even if you think they're all as bad as each other, even if you're in the wrong sort of safe seat, even if it's bloody cold out there, even if there are no decent candidates in your constituency, even if there's a queue, even if there's a Tory hanging around outside trying to engage you in conversation, even if you're really busy, even if you can't find your poll card, even if you wish 'hung parliament' referred to nooses and gallows, even if you have been traumatised by canvassers, even if it takes a while to climb over the mounds of propaganda that've drifted in through your letterbox, even if that book / DVD you've been waiting for has just arrived, even if you're afraid of encountering a BNP activist, even if you don't give a damn.

Please vote.

Comments

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

even if there's a Tory hanging around outside trying to engage you in conversation

Eeeek! I was going to vote. Now you've put me off ;)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

take a weapon. Or spidermonkey -- he can engage the Tory in monosyllables. Or KITTENZ, Tories burst into flames when confronted by Teh Cute.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Tories burst into flames when confronted by Teh Cute

But our local Tory candidate adopted a cat from the Blue Cross!

He is nice to cats: I must vote for him. < /sarcasm >

Edited for htmlfail

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

well said. (I have by the way and Roger votes on his way home. The cats aren't allowed which is just as well -I'm fairly sure they would vote conservative or worse)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Do we know if the cat did a runner? Or was sedated when it agreed to be adopted?

[themonkeycats.livejournal.com]

Last week, we met a black policekitty who told us that Blue Cross asylum-seeking scroungers were stopping first-time kitties getting onto the homing ladder.
--Leicester and Humbug.

PS But we thought he was a stupid, stuck-up kitty, and probably made up by a speech writer.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Cats would vote for whichever party promised full unemployment (= more Ape Time), climate change (= more sunshine), and NO BLOODY DOGS WALKING AROUND IN OUR TERRITORY AND BARKING AT US WHEN WE'RE SUNBATHING ON THE BINS.

Apparently.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

FAO woolymonkey

HALP UR KITTIEZ IZ POSSESSESSED BY DAVID CAMERON HALP

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

oh dear that sounds like UKIP or worse...are we irredeemably under the Paw ?

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

Why?

sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Because sometimes one vote does make a difference. Because it's a way of registering one's opinion. Because people died in the cause of votes for women. Because you pay your taxes and No Taxation Without Representation. Because it's a symbol of participation in society*. Because it only encourages them. (Oh, hang on ...) Because a vote for what you think is right balances someone else's vote for what you think is wrong.

*which does not exist if you are a Conservative, of course

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I am most certainly under the paw and I am surprised you could question your own oppression.

Re: sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

I participate in society by dint of my profession. In fact I probably do more for society in my work than many people in the private sector. It may not be "front line", but it's necessary.

I choose whether or not to vote - which is my right (which, no doubt, Jo will say the same). If I didn't vote due to apathy that would be indefensible, but I chose not to vote after weighing up many factors (including various manifesto pledges, and the demographics of my constituency). I don't believe that a high popular vote for the lib dems would spur PR (as they've had 30% before and it's never made a difference to anyone), unless they got above 50%. I don't like some of the implications of PR such as the BNP getting some seats, and would prefer a complete redesign of constituency boundaries.

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Because the more apathetic voters are, the more governments feel confident that they can do whatever they want.

Because if all the people who feel that their vote doesn't count, did vote, the results might look very different.

Because a low turnout makes the results of the BNP look better and encourages foreigners to think that the British are a nation of racists .

Re: sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean, and this is the first election where I've seriously wondered whether to vote. (I just voted.)

But I think not voting at all is a very very weak, imprecise signal. If you don't want to support any of the candidates, or participate in a skewed and unfair process, better to go to the polling station and deliberately spoil your paper. The number of spoilt papers that can be written off as 'people are stupid' is a lot smaller than the number of unused votes that can be written off as 'people are lazy'.

In France, a lot of people seem to take pride in telling everyone about the witty put down they scrawled across their ballot paper when they went along to 'abstain'. I'm not convinced it's a great idea, but I do think it beats not voting at all.

Re: sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

Because if all the people who feel that their vote doesn't count, did vote, the results might look very different.

It may seem counter-intuitive but I agree with this. Unfortunately, I can do nothing about all the other people who do not vote, and me voting will make not one iota of difference to anything (I live is a very, very safe Tory seat).

This is why I'm begining to think that perhaps we should make voting compulsary. All the peope who feel that their vote doesn't count would have to vote, and maybe things would change.


The BNP aren't fielding a candidate on our constituency - they may be racist but they're not entirely stupid...

Re: sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

Because sometimes one vote does make a difference.
Not round here it doesn't - it just falls into the weeny pile of non-Tory votes...

Because people died in the cause of votes for women
True, but I always read that as a fight for the choice of women to vote.

Because a vote for what you think is right balances someone else's vote for what you think is wrong.
And round here that still leaves a Tory majority of umpty million. And that was when Labour were riding high.


I don't object to voting per se - I voted in the London Mayoral elections. And even then the Borough voted Tory. Without some change to the system - PR, compulsary voting, I dunno - my vote where I live now is just a waste of paper.

Re: sorry for verbosity, but this is red rag to not-very-political-most-of-the-time bull ...

[anef.livejournal.com]

Because if there are to be negotiations on PR then your vote could be taken into account in those negotiations.