Voting

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Beef

Beef

Well-Known Member
Nov 22, 2011
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Just went down to my local polling station to vote.

Stepping into the booth and looking at the dross parties that are all basically the same just given different names. I had to choose 2 from these idiots and what would change?,would I suddenly become better off then I am now? I doubt it.

Fresh from Southampton getting promoted and the buzz i felt from that. I decided to vote for the two people that have changed something and made me feel better about getting up for work 5 days a week

So eyeing up the blank space at the top of voting slip i scribbled in and put a X next to two names that deserve more then any MP ever does.
Step forward Mr Adkins and Mr Liebherr, you have my vote as you do from many more.

Had a little grin as I posted my voting form in the box, for the first time ever. <laugh>
 
Well that was all rather silly.

If you get pissed off with the party that ends up leading Southampton City Council then you have no right to moan because you disn't say who you wanted when you had the chance.
 
St Godders of Windsor said:
Well that was all rather silly.

If you get pissed off with the party that ends up leading Southampton City Council then you have no right to moan because you disn't say who you wanted when you had the chance.
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What ever big party comes in will just be the same and the partys that would change something wouldn't get in if I did vote for them. So I didn't see the point tbh.
 
Come on, there are huge differences between the parties. When the Conservatives are in power they have blue lights on the Civic Centre and when Labour get in they change them to red!
 
St Godders of Windsor said:
Well that was all rather silly.

If you get pissed off with the party that ends up leading Southampton City Council then you have no right to moan because you disn't say who you wanted when you had the chance.
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No, he got up and cast a ballot - it was just a positive abstention. You have just as much right to moan as anyone else who casts a ballot. It's those who sit at home and don't cast their vote who can't moan. Casting a pox on the houses of all the political parties is fair political comment. It's lazieness that isn't. As it happens, I also spoilt my ballot paper too (wrote "no" in all the boxes); I wish I'd been as creative as the OP now.
 
KillerCephalopod said:
No, he got up and cast a ballot - it was just a positive abstention. You have just as much right to moan as anyone else who casts a ballot. It's those who sit at home and don't cast their vote who can't moan. Casting a pox on the houses of all the political parties is fair political comment. It's lazieness that isn't. As it happens, I also spoilt my ballot paper too (wrote "no" in all the boxes); I wish I'd been as creative as the OP now.
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I seem to remember that write-in candidates are allowed in elections somewhere in the world, possibly Australia? I've always thought that it's a great idea and should be allowed here. Another thing that they do in Australia I believe is that voting is compulsory, but positively abstaining or writing-in another candidate is OK.
 
Beef_Dripping said:
What ever big party comes in will just be the same and the partys that would change something wouldn't get in if I did vote for them. So I didn't see the point tbh.
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So not true. 18 years of the blue party in govt led to privatisation, selling off council houses, an underfunded NHS, crumbling schools, tax cuts for the rich, record unemployment. 13 years of a red(ish) govt meant a well funded NHS, money invested in schools, working family tax credits, full employment. And now the blues are back in, and guess what? Tax cuts for the rich, rising unemployment, a bill to flog off the NHS.

Obviously all politicians and all parties are flawed, but to say there is no difference between Labour and the Tories is just ignorance my friend. Personally I always vote for the team in red, but the important thing is not who I or you or anyone else vote for; the important thing is, we vote. People fought for our right to do that, and not to vote is an insult to their memories, especially in the country that stood alone against fascism in 1940.

Rant over. Sorry if I have caused offence.
 
I agree Archers Road...Labour did make mistakes but they also invested heavily in NHS and Education infrastucture...hospitals and (admitedly only one) school that I have visited recently were improved out of recognition....and, of course there was the spin off improved employment and distributed boost to the economy....we need to invest in infrastructure, power stations etc. if you have kids, I hope there will be an improvement soon or their employment prospects will be dire...unfortunately we cant all be high-flying super-rich capitalists like JoeyB! Anyway Saints play in red, Pompey blue...enough said!
 
ChilcoSaint said:
I seem to remember that write-in candidates are allowed in elections somewhere in the world, possibly Australia? I've always thought that it's a great idea and should be allowed here. Another thing that they do in Australia I believe is that voting is compulsory, but positively abstaining or writing-in another candidate is OK.
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Write-ins are allowed in some parts of America; I've never heard of them being allowed in Australia, but who knows. On compulsary voting, an Australian friend once told me spoiling your ballot paper is technically illegal in Australia, but not only obviously impossible to prosecuste as it's a secret ballot but they get told how it's possible in their civics classes at school. I'm not personally a fan of compulsory anything, let alone something as important as voting.
IMO the fact that so many people couldn't be bothered to vote says more about our political parties than it does about the voters; having been to one of the major parties (local) fund raising events*, I can tell you that they appear stuck in the 1920s and have no idea how to communicate or use any technology past leaflets to get their message to voters. All three main parties are in decline and deserve everything they get. Even the people I agree with in policy terms nationally are loons locally.


*I was invited by my local councillor & there was a Q&A with a treasury Minister a week before the budget, after a posh dinner all for 25 quid. Look another "cash for access" scandal!! :laugh:
 
KillerCephalopod said:
No, he got up and cast a ballot - it was just a positive abstention. You have just as much right to moan as anyone else who casts a ballot. It's those who sit at home and don't cast their vote who can't moan. Casting a pox on the houses of all the political parties is fair political comment. It's lazieness that isn't. As it happens, I also spoilt my ballot paper too (wrote "no" in all the boxes); I wish I'd been as creative as the OP now.
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Turning up and voting for nobody is better than sitting at home on yor arse. You're making your point that you don't like any of the candidates and I respect that.
 
Itchen North Matt said:
Turning up and voting for nobody is better than sitting at home on yor arse. You're making your point that you don't like any of the candidates and I respect that.
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I can't be as consise, focused and to the point as that. I like using winding, senic sentances and pedantically selected, hopefully erudite, and often recondite words.
 
There is a fundamental flaw in modern democracy. In a modern wealthy society there is a demographic bell curve on peoples opinions and political viewpoint, most of us fall in the big peaky bit of the curve where we dont want too much to change, our self interets are to leave it roughly as it is but with a bit of tweaking one way or the other and by sheer weight of numbers those in the middle ground decide who gets elected. So political parties chase the middle ground, they become increasing populist and similar. The early socialist parties would crings at some of the Labour parties concessions to business, and the old fashioned capitalists would find the Conservatives stance on social and employment legislation completely incomprehensible.

The result of this is that they all end up looking rather similar and as Policy gaps narrow they end up fighting on personality and image. The general consensus amongst the population is that none of them do very much anyway, the world carries on pretty much the same for most people regardless of who gets in and none of them are to trusted because they are all liars, thieves and charlatans. So people become disengaged from the process and stop voting.

To shore up crumbling bedrock support the parties drive ever harder towards the middle ground, furthering the process. Eventually it will become nothing more than a popularity contest and we can hand the whole thing over to Simon Cowell. The quickest way out of the whole cycle would be for one party to take the initiative and abandon the middle ground but without a crisis far greater and far deeper than the last economic hiccup that is unlikely to happen.

Let the tedium continue!!
 
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