Economics -
Voting
Nothing
frightens politicians as much as a low turnout.
However badly politicians behave, they need to
feel that the public supports the system. None of
the main parties really deserves our votes.
* Labour despises the
voters and parliament. They market themselves
ruthlessly, irrespective of the truth.
* The Conservatives
are quite prepared to run down our public
services still further in pursuit of
electoral advantage.
* The Liberal
Democrats are the cuddly party, who think
that being nice to everyone will bring about
a happier world.
All the parties
use the Commons as a ya boo chamber, and all of
them wimp out of realistic discussion of serious
issues likes drugs, or euthanasia. So do we vote
for the least bad party, or do we show our
contempt for them all by staying away?
The Archbishop of Canterbury says it is our duty
to consider the issues and cast a vote. This is a
conservative (with a small "c"!)
position. Once again we see the Church of England
supporting the established order. This is odd -
Jesus didn't choose the least bad members of the
establishment in his day. He was a radical. So,
no special reason to take any notice of the
Archbishop.
Politicians claim to deplore apathy. This is not
because of some high minded dedication to the
democratic process. (Our democracy is feeble
anyway). Like most things politicians say, it is
a selfish means to their end, which is a good
election result. Abstention tells them they just
have not been doing well enough for any of them
to deserve your vote. If you vote, you buy into
their system. More importantly, it shows you
accept their standards. Abstention may show
antipathy to the lot of them.
Paddy Ashdown writes in the Financial Times that
politicians have themselves to blame for recent
outbreaks of antipathy towards them from
electors. He says, "For some time, public
trust in our politics has declined to a level
which ought to be ringing alarm bells, but does
not seem to be. Politicians have diminished the
debate down to often inane simplicities. We are
speaking in a language most people either do not
understand or do not believe. The campaign is
designed to use people as a backdrop for
politicians' display. Above all it is our
determination to act as though we are masters,
when our role is to be servants. Having betrayed
their hopes, most people now think we are just
wasting their time."
The minimum voting age could be cut to 16 in a
bid to boost falling electoral turnouts. The
Electoral Commission is concerned about the
increasing apathy among 18 to 24-year-olds with
the turnout at the last election at just 39 per
cent. A recent poll showed 30 per cent of 15 to
17-year-olds was either fairly or very interested
in politics.
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