I always thought that those who choose not to vote are a waste of a citizen. Mostly because I believed they neglected to go to the ballot out of apathy. Sometimes this is true, but I have made the decision not to vote either in the upcoming British election, not because of indifference, but quite the opposite. You see, I believe in commitment. I never do anything by halves. Nothing out of choice, anyway. If I am going to vote for a party or a leader, I have to believe in them. When the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown has about as much charisma as a toenail and the only other candidate who actually has a chance of winning, David Cameron is as fickle as an indicator, and tries to gain votes by limiting immigration, it makes little practical sense to vote. One of my favorite authors, well ahead of his time, wrote “I cast my vote, perchance as I think it right; but I am not vitally concerned that the right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majorityâ€. This is not a statement against democracy, but about the overwhelming half-heartedness with which we tend to do just about everything these days in Britain. If I found a political party that I truly had faith in, then I would be using my hands to ensure that everyone knew about this party and its leader. I would join the party and try to further its initiative. When we are left with two real candidates, if nothing else, out of pure tradition, then I have no choice but to withdraw my vote.  The system is stagnant because nobody considers smaller parties, as they know that the majority will always vote for either Labor or Conservative.  Personally I am tired of voting for one candidate to prevent the other getting to power. That is not what voting was meant to be about. When I announced my intention to shun the election to my friends who have long suffered my never-ending boycotts (including boycotts of people who annoy me) I was met with a level of resistance. Was I forgetting about the symbolism of each individual voting? What if everyone behaved as I will? Nobody would be elected. Power in numbers. I do not deny that as a collective, voting does make a difference. As an individual, however, my action of going to the ballot and putting an X next to someone’s name will affect the election about as much as deciding what to have for lunch will. Normally I love the symbolism of actions. But when faced with two candidates who, by comparison, make television shopping channels seem riveting and genuine, I would rather insert vinegar into my eye with a needle than vote for either of them, betraying both my brain and my heart. Perhaps I could find an independent party to vote for? I have been interested by one or two, but I find myself struggling to trust any of them. The problem is the stagnancy. We need political upheaval to boost people out of their automated responses. Few people take the time to investigate smaller political parties because, like me, they know that nobody else will. The system will never allow a smaller party to snatch victory because to have the same advertising rights as the mainstream party, you have to reach the vote threshold. How does one reach that threshold without the liberty that other parties have? Some people also argue that it is my duty, as a woman, to vote because of the fight that the suffragettes had to endure to ensure that women achieved the right to vote. Surely this is oxymoronic? The suffragettes did not want the right to vote, per se, they strived for equal rights with men. By suggesting that women, and not men, are obliged to vote, contradicts the very principles for which those women fought. I wholeheartedly agree with the axiom that the best type of government is one that governs the least. There are only two ways I can envisage this happening:  A mass decline in voting or for things to get even worse, waking us up out of our political sleep. Both of these, I would hope would, at the very least would lead people to realize that there is little difference between Conservative and Labor, thereby gearing them towards new and independent parties. Perhaps I am being unrealistic in wishing for political reform, but I feel that our government treats us as children, enticing us with promises of Smarties and, upon being elected, giving us cabbage and doing whatever it likes. Sometimes a government might know best, but it does not deserve our respect without working for it. There is very little that the British government has done in recent years that I am proud of, this is why I refuse to trust this break-up, make-up routine that comes around every four years. I would rather join the struggle for political reform than waste my time sizing up the rhetoric of Gordon Brown and David Cameron. BM
