The Apolitical Blues
I was going to watch the leaders’ debate the other night, honest I was. Then my mate came over, we put on some tunes, started gabbing and you know I just plain forgot. Mind you, I can pretty much imagine what it was like - three liars lying a lot.
But in all seriousness, I was going to watch, because I find myself this election really, honestly and truly, with no real idea who I’m going to vote for. Although I have pretty much equal distaste for all the major parties, I do feel it’s important to vote for someone, even if only to guarantee your moaning rights for the next four years.
I guess I’m probably fairly standard Labour fodder. I’ll qualify that as ‘new’ Labour, not the pseudo-Socialist (which is probably worse than actually Socialist) union-infested party of the past. Basically I’m for a welfare state (and have no objection to being one of the ones who pays for it), freedom of opportunity and a fair tax system whereby the rich pay more and those less-able pay less. I don’t believe in the mythical “power of the people”, because frankly, the vast majority of people I meet I wouldn’t trust with any degree of power at all, and my experience of unions has only ever been of a smaller, less moderate form of governmental movement whereby suited thugs assert their agenda of self promotion thinly veiled as being in the interest of others. I’m sure there are good ones out there, but they’re in the minority.
However, even as New Labour, I cannot bring myself to vote for Gordon Brown as prime minister. I am utterly amazed that the party have allowed him to continue in the role into this election. As far as I’m concerned he was never more than the chancellor and his policies and decision have all been guided by that view since he came to the PM chair - that the institutions that drove our country to the brink of collapse and dented our public services for decades to come have been allowed to survive practically un-chastised is a disgrace and just one example of where he will always put the finance industry above all else.
On the other hand, my quite privileged state as a dual income household, owning a home in a desirable end of town might make me more a tory target voter. I’ve never quite forgiven them for what they did in the bad old days, but I have come to regard that as the dangers of having a very dominant party in power way longer than their ideas last rather than an issue with the party itself, and I see the same problems with the current mob. After all, going through university was pretty tough for my family when I did it in the early 90’s but it would be an impossible dream now. Which isn’t to say I’ve forgiven them; besides their positively xenophobic attitude to Europe keeps my cross away from their box on the paper. The rest is irrelevant.
So there’s the Lib Dems. Always seen them as a bit wishy washy; trying to occupy a rapidly decreasing space between two parties who have become more and more like one another over the last 15 years or so. I like the idea that they’re a fresh voice though, and coming from a position largely free of the inter-party bickering that voice sounds as genuine as one can realistically expect from the mouth of a politician. Perhaps it’s about time the country told both Labour and Conservative we’ve had enough of the pair of them. How realistic the idea of LD government is though remains to be seen - will they just crap themselves if they found themselves in power? I am incredibly amused by the way both Labour and the Tories have stopped squabbling amongst themselves to rally against them in this election campaign. Perhaps their fear of them suggests they’re a more credible force than I’m giving them credit for.
Of course being in Scotland means I have another mainstream choice - the SNP, the party that wants Scottish independence. Once a bit of a joke; a pressure group rather than a political party, it’s hard not to admire their ability to make a proper government out of that. I live in Scotland and intend to for the foreseeable future and there’s no doubt they will put Scotland’s interests first, but it’s that self-service thing again - their bullet point policies all seem to be about stopping London doing this, stopping London doing that. I don’t want negative policies - I want a move forward. There’s also a fundamental difficulty here in that ideologically I am against independence for Scotland. I don’t think it would work in the long run, although ironically it does seem to be the clearest route to embracing Europe as the SNP have as good as said they’d do so if Scotland were to become independent. They’d have to. Mind you, they also said (granted a good few years back) that despite having lived in Scotland since I was five, paid tax here all my adult life and supported the country in a hundred other ways, I’d have to apply for residency, which they can shove right up their kilts frankly. Plus, in a slightly less blatantly borne grudge, they’ve demonstrated several times over the last few years that living in Glasgow under the SNP is like living in Newcastle under the Tories - you might as well be ruled from another country.
Sadly there’s not an independent candidate running in my constituency, as (s)he’d almost certainly get my vote for just running outwith the party system - if you’re going it alone, chances are you care enough about what you’re doing and disagree enough with the mainstream parties to at least be sincere, which leaves us with the nutters, although I don’t think they’re even bothering in a seat where 50% of the vote went to labour last time around.
So where does that leave me? I did the web thingy where they ask you about your opinions on the issues that the parties are campaigning on and I came out pretty much agreeing with 30% of what each of the major parties were saying (Lab, Tory, Lib Dem - the SNP were down at about 10%) so that didn’t help. Messing with the priorities brought Labour and Lib Dem slightly ahead, but only slightly. On one hand this tells me it doesn’t matter who wins - I’m going to get my way about a third of the time - on the other it says that nobody out there represents my opinions (which shouldn’t surprise or worry anyone ;) )
So what do I believe politically? I believe that people should have rights, but I also believe they should have responsibilities, and that the balance should be maintained. I believe we should have tougher immigration. I’ve been on the other end of immigration for a nation with pretty tough controls and I didn’t think any of it was unreasonable, racist or inappropriate. I’m pro Europe. I believe the only reason the major parties are so anti it is because they know it’ll show them up to be outdated Byzantine institutions. The SNP at least have the advantage that they’ll build their government from scratch, probably based on some of the more successful small nations in Europe rather than the example in Westminster.
I’m interested in the environment. Not rabidly so; I think we have to be reasonable and accept what we can and can’t do, but we should be absolutely doing everything we can to sort out the problems we have. I believe that those problems dwarf any issues we might have on other shores and should be prioritised over our squabbles and those we’ve taken on on behalf of others. You can read into that whatever you like.
Mostly though I think I’m interested in reform. I’m sitting here, an intelligent (I think) person who really wants to make the right choice but I’m faced with a whole group of people who are utterly unworthy of my support. I don’t blame them personally - I think they’re just operating a system which was made for a world that’s been gone for decades, possibly centuries, and it’s a system that needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. No hiding behind privilege and rules that allowed discretion in an age where discretion was commonplace; no political gain at the expense of progress, and no back room deals as the only way to make things work. A simple, uncomplicated form of government based on individuals representing us not self-serving and perpetuating organisations with interests in places we cannot tread, expertly spun to make us think it’s all in our best interests.
I will try and watch the other two debates (although it appears one of them is rather bizarrely on Sky meaning not all of the UK can watch it). From what’s been reported in the news it seems the debate was actually pretty genuine, intelligent and largely free from backbiting, which I’ll admit was not what I was expecting. Perhaps somewhere along the line even the mainstream leaders have realised we want proper debate, not spun opinions and rhetoric.
But in all seriousness, I was going to watch, because I find myself this election really, honestly and truly, with no real idea who I’m going to vote for. Although I have pretty much equal distaste for all the major parties, I do feel it’s important to vote for someone, even if only to guarantee your moaning rights for the next four years.
I guess I’m probably fairly standard Labour fodder. I’ll qualify that as ‘new’ Labour, not the pseudo-Socialist (which is probably worse than actually Socialist) union-infested party of the past. Basically I’m for a welfare state (and have no objection to being one of the ones who pays for it), freedom of opportunity and a fair tax system whereby the rich pay more and those less-able pay less. I don’t believe in the mythical “power of the people”, because frankly, the vast majority of people I meet I wouldn’t trust with any degree of power at all, and my experience of unions has only ever been of a smaller, less moderate form of governmental movement whereby suited thugs assert their agenda of self promotion thinly veiled as being in the interest of others. I’m sure there are good ones out there, but they’re in the minority.
However, even as New Labour, I cannot bring myself to vote for Gordon Brown as prime minister. I am utterly amazed that the party have allowed him to continue in the role into this election. As far as I’m concerned he was never more than the chancellor and his policies and decision have all been guided by that view since he came to the PM chair - that the institutions that drove our country to the brink of collapse and dented our public services for decades to come have been allowed to survive practically un-chastised is a disgrace and just one example of where he will always put the finance industry above all else.
On the other hand, my quite privileged state as a dual income household, owning a home in a desirable end of town might make me more a tory target voter. I’ve never quite forgiven them for what they did in the bad old days, but I have come to regard that as the dangers of having a very dominant party in power way longer than their ideas last rather than an issue with the party itself, and I see the same problems with the current mob. After all, going through university was pretty tough for my family when I did it in the early 90’s but it would be an impossible dream now. Which isn’t to say I’ve forgiven them; besides their positively xenophobic attitude to Europe keeps my cross away from their box on the paper. The rest is irrelevant.
So there’s the Lib Dems. Always seen them as a bit wishy washy; trying to occupy a rapidly decreasing space between two parties who have become more and more like one another over the last 15 years or so. I like the idea that they’re a fresh voice though, and coming from a position largely free of the inter-party bickering that voice sounds as genuine as one can realistically expect from the mouth of a politician. Perhaps it’s about time the country told both Labour and Conservative we’ve had enough of the pair of them. How realistic the idea of LD government is though remains to be seen - will they just crap themselves if they found themselves in power? I am incredibly amused by the way both Labour and the Tories have stopped squabbling amongst themselves to rally against them in this election campaign. Perhaps their fear of them suggests they’re a more credible force than I’m giving them credit for.
Of course being in Scotland means I have another mainstream choice - the SNP, the party that wants Scottish independence. Once a bit of a joke; a pressure group rather than a political party, it’s hard not to admire their ability to make a proper government out of that. I live in Scotland and intend to for the foreseeable future and there’s no doubt they will put Scotland’s interests first, but it’s that self-service thing again - their bullet point policies all seem to be about stopping London doing this, stopping London doing that. I don’t want negative policies - I want a move forward. There’s also a fundamental difficulty here in that ideologically I am against independence for Scotland. I don’t think it would work in the long run, although ironically it does seem to be the clearest route to embracing Europe as the SNP have as good as said they’d do so if Scotland were to become independent. They’d have to. Mind you, they also said (granted a good few years back) that despite having lived in Scotland since I was five, paid tax here all my adult life and supported the country in a hundred other ways, I’d have to apply for residency, which they can shove right up their kilts frankly. Plus, in a slightly less blatantly borne grudge, they’ve demonstrated several times over the last few years that living in Glasgow under the SNP is like living in Newcastle under the Tories - you might as well be ruled from another country.
Sadly there’s not an independent candidate running in my constituency, as (s)he’d almost certainly get my vote for just running outwith the party system - if you’re going it alone, chances are you care enough about what you’re doing and disagree enough with the mainstream parties to at least be sincere, which leaves us with the nutters, although I don’t think they’re even bothering in a seat where 50% of the vote went to labour last time around.
So where does that leave me? I did the web thingy where they ask you about your opinions on the issues that the parties are campaigning on and I came out pretty much agreeing with 30% of what each of the major parties were saying (Lab, Tory, Lib Dem - the SNP were down at about 10%) so that didn’t help. Messing with the priorities brought Labour and Lib Dem slightly ahead, but only slightly. On one hand this tells me it doesn’t matter who wins - I’m going to get my way about a third of the time - on the other it says that nobody out there represents my opinions (which shouldn’t surprise or worry anyone ;) )
So what do I believe politically? I believe that people should have rights, but I also believe they should have responsibilities, and that the balance should be maintained. I believe we should have tougher immigration. I’ve been on the other end of immigration for a nation with pretty tough controls and I didn’t think any of it was unreasonable, racist or inappropriate. I’m pro Europe. I believe the only reason the major parties are so anti it is because they know it’ll show them up to be outdated Byzantine institutions. The SNP at least have the advantage that they’ll build their government from scratch, probably based on some of the more successful small nations in Europe rather than the example in Westminster.
I’m interested in the environment. Not rabidly so; I think we have to be reasonable and accept what we can and can’t do, but we should be absolutely doing everything we can to sort out the problems we have. I believe that those problems dwarf any issues we might have on other shores and should be prioritised over our squabbles and those we’ve taken on on behalf of others. You can read into that whatever you like.
Mostly though I think I’m interested in reform. I’m sitting here, an intelligent (I think) person who really wants to make the right choice but I’m faced with a whole group of people who are utterly unworthy of my support. I don’t blame them personally - I think they’re just operating a system which was made for a world that’s been gone for decades, possibly centuries, and it’s a system that needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. No hiding behind privilege and rules that allowed discretion in an age where discretion was commonplace; no political gain at the expense of progress, and no back room deals as the only way to make things work. A simple, uncomplicated form of government based on individuals representing us not self-serving and perpetuating organisations with interests in places we cannot tread, expertly spun to make us think it’s all in our best interests.
I will try and watch the other two debates (although it appears one of them is rather bizarrely on Sky meaning not all of the UK can watch it). From what’s been reported in the news it seems the debate was actually pretty genuine, intelligent and largely free from backbiting, which I’ll admit was not what I was expecting. Perhaps somewhere along the line even the mainstream leaders have realised we want proper debate, not spun opinions and rhetoric.