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///phonic monkeys - quiet ramblings///
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Election '05 Edition
Lordy. A General Election tomorrow. How it sneaks up on us so! During the course of this election race, I have been continually amused and unsurprised about the general interest from other countries in this election; and yet, we somehow (as a nation) remain interested in other's electoral systems at all times (thanks BBC!- you keep us informed, no matter how irrelevent the US elections are, and to be fair, that's an important thing).
But the important thing is, surely, that these elections are going ahead. We have the ability to vote freely for a party, and hope that our vote gets things going in the way that we hope they will...
Yah. Right. From a very personal point of view, this election is a little disappointing.
Why? Simple.
The Labour party is a complete joke purely because of its leader (the seemingly US Backed idol-boy, Tony Blair). He may have been a breath of fresh air 8 years ago, but to be fair, right now, he comes across as a poodle to the US, completely incapable of independent thought, and generally an untrustworthy individual. This isn't about the validity of a war in Iraq. This is about the voracity of a leader's convitions - it doesn't matter if the end-result is right or wrong - it matters how you got there. Sod their plans for the future - can you trust them?
We have a Liberal party who, although full of genuine ideals, sensible ideas, election gumption, a pleasant middle-of-the-way solution, and a popular/pleasant leader, has no real way of funding their plans without costing middle-england an absolute fortune. Yes, their plans are sensible, correct, and generally positive (thanks mostly to a very clever election campaign), but they will cost people (like my parents) an absolute fortune.
And we have a Conservative party, the opposition party, who, although putting across some contraversial and thought-provoking ideas on Immigration, the promise of tax-cuts, increased Police presence, NHS provision etc, have yet to convice many people that:
i) they are a viable alternative, and
ii) that they are any more trustworthy than the encumbant government (probably mostly due to past misdemeanours).
The Green Party, although full of promise and idealistic tenets, have completely sailed by peoples' ability to pay for the cost of their plans. The UKIP party are, lets face it, a single-issue party whos relevence is washed aside by others' plans to hold a referendum (although they have provided interesting statistics on the cost of the EU), and Veritas is a complete and utter joke (the sooner the Orange-One gets back to poor day-time TV presentation, the better IMHO).
So, what do you vote for? Voting is, in my opinion, important, and to be fair, if you don't vote, you have virtually no right to complain about the system as it stands. But who to vote for?
Lord knows. But _I_ will be voting tomorrow (once my mind has been made up), and I thouroughly encourage all those entitled to to do so as well, even if you turn up, spoil your ballet paper, and bugger off to the pub...
Ah. The choices...
posted by Mike Pearce on 11:09 PM
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