I have a vague idea that this is a bad thing, but I can't seem to do anything about rectifying it. It just does not grip me. My knowledge of politics extends to a misty awareness that there's a general election coming up sometime soonish, and that there are three main parties to choose from, two of which are ones that people actually vote for. Many people seem to want to vote for the third but don't on the basis that no-one else wants to vote for them. This seems absurd.
I try to take something of an interest, I really do. But I get put off by one quite major thing. I'll try to describe what that is...
The two main parties' election campaigns appear to consist almost entirely of slagging off the other main party. Party Political Broadcasts interrupt my already sketchy televisual experience to tell me that I shouldn't vote Conservative because someone's got funny hair, or something. And then another tells me that I shouldn't vote Labour because one of them said something a bit iffy about my grandmother.
And then the Lib Dems come on and tell me that I shouldn't vote Labour or conservative because they both have bad breath and don't wash the soles of their feet in the shower*.
In short, the political campaigns that rage in the popular media; the ones that are more likely to come my way, seem to be geared towards ensnaring the average British TV soap enthusiast and/or Sun reader. Some of the skirmishes even appear to be targeted at readers** of the Daily Fail.
I guess this is a rather long-winded way of coming to my main point, which is a challenge. A challenge to anyone of a vaguely political nature who happens by this post. That challenge can be summed up in just two words:
Sway me.
I am a blank canvas. Convince me that your party is the one for me; the one next to which I should place my pencilled 'X' come voting day. You can do this in the comments or by way of a response post on your own blog (please comment with a link so that I and others may find it). Bear in mind that I am not the only person in this situation or with these priorities: You are potentially calling to thousands of others like me Some hints to help you along the way:
- My personal priorities are:
- Education (particularly mathematics, and from the point of view of classroom teachers)
- Science, technology, engineering and mathematics in general
- Not having to pay for things I don't use (i.e. paying extra taxes to fix roads I don't drive on)
- Religion (particularly crowbarring it away from decision making for important, real-world, non-imaginary things)
- If you include slurs against candidates from opposing parties (or against other parties in general) this will count against you. If your party is worthy of my vote you won't need to call someone else's mother names in order to win it.
**Update**
@miss_s_b has responded on behalf of the Liberal Democrat party here:
Is there anyone out there willing to pick up the gauntlet in the name of any other British political party?
* Yes, I know this isn't precisely the case, but I think you get the point: Each party (it seems to me) moans about the policies of the others far more than saying why theirs are quite good, actually.
** I use this word loosely.
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ReplyDeleteHmm, sorry I can't help. I've met these people and it has to be said that I can't bring myself to vote for any of them. I know, I know-people died to get me the vote. But would they have bothered if they saw what had happened to the UK ?
ReplyDeleteBy the way-you may not use the roads, but do you eat? Well your food was brought to you by road. Is your bin emptied each week/fortnight? Well, the bin lorry gets to you by road. So whether you personally drive a 5.7 litre Chevrolet or travel by bus and mountain bike like me is irrelevant-we all pay for the infrastructure because indirectly or not, we all use it.
JR: My comment about the roads wasn't that I don't use them; rather that the ones I do use do not seem to be maintained. I wouldn't mind paying tax that goes on road maintenance if my routes to work, town and the supermarket weren't littered with craters. Honestly, in some cases it would make more sense to remove the remaining bits of road than to fill in the holes.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the roads: aside from motorways, your council election vote is what matters for them, not your general election one.
ReplyDeleteRegarding everything else, well, obviously I'm going to say the Lib Dems. We're a party founded on rational thinking, our voters are at the smarter end of the spectrum, and we just saved the internet.
I shall do a full post about this once the small person is in bed, and back link to you.
Thanks for the info, and I look forward to your post. I know I should take more of an interest, but... the lure of apathy is too strong. I mean, it's not rocket science, is it? And I can actually /do/ rocket science...
ReplyDeleteJennie's done a better post than I could put into a comment that seems to answer your questions, so I'll respond to the first half instead.
ReplyDeleteCaveat first: I can't stand the system of Govt we use in this country. It's my main reason for being a Lib Dem, the party was founded to change the system. But Because I can't stand it, I've worked to understand it. Even going so far as to go off and get a degree in the subject. So...
Negativity. To win a General Election, you need to win 330ish seats. For the most part, there are 'safe' seats that never change hands (about 350 are either safe Labour or safe Tory). The election is decided by the rest.
On a simple plurality basis.
In addition, voting isn't compulsory.
In order to win in a seat, you need to do several things. You need to motivate your supporters to turn out. You need to persuade undecided middle ground voters that you're better. And, in most seats, you have to persaude the supporters of 3rd place or below candidates/parties in your constituency that their candidate can't win.
To win, you need to do all of those things. But while a positive message works best for undecided middle ground voters (probably like yourself), for the other two groups, normally considered to be the larger groups?
Negativity works. People who identify as Greens, Labour or other definite "left wing" parties for the most part know how much damage the Tories will do, on the issues they care about. But they won't always remember it, or consider voting that way.
So, to a) get your supporters to vote and b) persaude minor party candidates to vote for you instead, you need to remind people how bad the other guy is.
There's massive amounts of research on this. In fact, there's a branch of Game Theory maths all about it. I learnt a huge chunk of it for my degree, ten years ago.
That's why the parties go negative. For every 1 voter that's more likely to vote for you due to a positive message, there's 2 that's more influence by a negative message. Roughly.
Which is why I prefer a different way of voting; a preferential system as used in Ireland encourages positive campaigning; because it's not simple plurality, candidates are encouraged to appeal to niches and persuade people out, you don't need to scare people and can't really benefit from squeezing minor parties out, as votes for them don't help the other big party.
And yes, it is absurd that people don't vote LD because no one else will, there's a chance this might change this time, but it's not a big one; we'll see. The voting system determines the party system, so many people don't see this at all, but it's a basic and provable fact :-(
MatGB: Thanks for commenting! It's nice to know that my distrust and dislike of our political system may not stem entirely from my near-complete ignorance of it.
ReplyDeleteI can understand you working to understand the system despite disliking it. I am fascinated by religion and attempt to understand it for similar reasons, but I haven't gone so far as obtaining a degree in it largely because I prefer maths (although given half a chance (and the funding) I'd go back!)