Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Put a X in the box....

I can't remember much about what my old marketing director said when I worked in newspapers not so very long ago. In fact, for the most part, I thought he was a bit of a burk and, to be absolutely honest, I can't even remember his name, but one thing he said during a presentation struck a chord with me and stuck in my mind. He said that if we, as a newspaper could capture the zeitgeist then we'd be onto a winner. I'm not sure that we ever achieved it but, nevertheless, it was a great goal to aim for. Capturing the zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, is what politicians try to do at election time and, for me, Nick Clegg has managed to achieve this. Who the hell would have thought that there'd be young and old people in the streets chanting "I agree with Nick!" as the Lib Dem leader meanders through the crowds up and down the country. Ok the TV debates have had a big impact on this and some people don't think that Clegg should even have been allowed in them at all. But he was and he seized his opptunity to try and change the political map. TV has, afterall, effected much of the rest of our lives and now it's at last managed to engage a largely turned off population into politics again. I really hope that something dramatic does happen at this election, whether it's a hung parliament and the parties are forced to cooperate more closely with each other; or whether it's an outright Liberal victory the outcome will be concessions to the voting system towards proportional representation and a shake up of the old establishment. It won't destroy the established order (it's too strong for that) but it but it will prune it and allow for new growth. Now I'm back talking about the Tonbridge garden show! I'm not at all sure that my vote will make any difference in Tonbridge and Malling but I've pretty much made up my mind which way I'm voting. If enough young people, that's mainly 18-25 year olds can actually be bothered to go out and exercise their democartic right there could well be a major upset even in this Tory stronghold of a constituency. Who knows. But to not vote at all I just cannot understand that when, not so long ago, people in this country died for the right to vote, woman of all ages, especially, were denied the vote as little ago as 85 years. People around the world are still coerced to vote a certain way or else their votes are fiddled and deliberately miss-counted. So go and put a X in the box on Thursday; it's as easy as that but it adds up to so much....

8 comments:

The Tomahawk Kid said...

Voting should be compulsory, but there should be an option on the ballot paper to abstain or protest. Our current voting system is a complete joke. If Labour get about 28% of the vote they will be the major party. Given a turnout of about 50% this means they could form the Government with the support of just 14% of the population eligible to vote. That does not sound like a democracy to me. I am not anti-Labour, I could quite easily have picked the Conservatives. Go on evryone, get out there and vote!

Anonymous said...

if you love family courts , paedophiles and immigration labour , cons and lib dems are the party for you
not forgetting statute law , micro chipping , barcodes , cctv , police state , sexualising of children etc etc


in fact if you plan to vote for any of the above instead of a tick write baaaaa .... sheeple

Anonymous said...

when talking to people who seem to think that the EU is a good idea or say 'we're wasting a vote if we dont vote for one of the 3 main parties' I ask them "Do you want your children and grandchildren growing up under a dictatorship?". Bear in mind EU laws now comprise some 84% of all British legislation.

Anonymous said...

The 2 commentators above should surely vote libdem in their own interest. Then they may get a proportional vote next time, which would give a fairer share for their nasty little party.

Sunny_Tonny said...

I always take up the opportunity to vote, but if someone doesn't want to then that's their choice. Forcing people to show up on election day does not equal a democracy!

The Tomahawk Kid said...

I can't quite follow the logic about being forced to vote being undemocratic. There are plenty of other things you are forced to do : completing a census form, getting a national insurance number, TV licence etc. Is that undemocratic too? People who don't want to vote should go and live in a dictatorship. They may then appreciate why people die for the right to democracy.

Sunny_Tonny said...

Think I may have touched a nerve with the Tomahawk kid....you can't compare voting to paying your TV license! Have you thought about the consequences of people being forced to vote against their will? Chances are they'd just put a cross in the first box on the list! Surely it's better if people only use their vote if they're going to think about it rather than being forced to? Voting is a right, not a duty and while I'm grateful to the suffragettes for fighting for my vote, I'm equally grateful to anyone who fought for this to be a free country - and as such, nobody should be able to *force* people to exercise their rights.

Tonbridge blogger said...

Sunny_Tonny: in the words of a politician: "Here, here!"