Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Voting

[888heaven]

Did anyone vote today or are you like me couldnt be a--ed.
I know so close to the D Day celebrations and the fact my grandfather was killed at Caen I should make the effort but who to vote for?
does it make any difference whos in power they all seem to enter politics just to line their pockets,especialy at local level council taxes rise constantly and all the jobs advertised seem to be related to helping social parasites.
gypsey liason officers,etc the list is endless yet they cant cut the grass or sweep the gravel off the roads.
we dont even have any choice on europe everything is in place for England to be divided up into regions controlled by the EU.

[JasonBoswell]

Originally posted by 888heaven
Did anyone vote today or are you like me couldnt be a--ed.

But if you dont vote it will never get any better... the politicians rely on voter apathy. I agree with you about the local level politics though... but just think how easy it would be to swing that if you really wanted to.

[bradders]

if you dont vote you have no vioce...voted for the first time in years as I realise that if I dont I cant stand with others in the pub whinging, complaining and generally being unpleasant about those which govern us! So vote = permission to moan

[888heaven]

Its alright just voting but what are you voting for most people vote out of dissatifaction not to actually improve anything,labours crap lets vote tory when there in theyll blame labour for all our ills and the cycle goes on.
you think you have power but you dont, I dont wont to be in an European superstate but i will be in 2 years time vote or no vote.

[bradders]

888 - see your point, but thats why the last national only had about 25% turnout. Parties are nearly the same now, and all the opposition do is just as the word suggests, oppose the power even if the idea is a good one. But, big but, we still (just) live in a democracy and must use whatever power, no matter how small, to the maximum affect.

Doing it now - getting involved! Rock on!

[888heaven]

I can see what your saying but the balance of power is not in the hands of our politicians but the judges and lawyers who control what they want in law.
human rights act need i say more,being reported for an opinion ie no more imigration(racist)
sorry its to late to make a difference,IF you voted for the BNP they would simply ban the party if they became a force to change.

[bradders]

while PC has gone mad, much of it is for the right reasons. We are all equal in status, at least as human beings. What makes us different is how we act with others and carryu ourselves in society.

That said, much of the current stuff is mad - for exmaple the lollypop lady who has been suspended for poking a child who was kicking litter around. Again, the idea of stopping the potential abuse is admirable and essential, its just that we as society have not yet found the acceptable level.

The courts enforce the laws - the politicians make them. What we must stop, in my view, is the enforcement from other cultures (ie EU parliament) on ours. I want bent bananas - but I also want all people, regardless of race, gender or creed, to earn a fair wage and feel safe. Again, somewhere there is a balance. I hope we find it soon!

[antonye]

£100 fine if you don't vote and a box for "none of the above".

That'd sort it, IMHO...

[Jools]

I voted. I always do. It's because my Grandad lied about his age to join up in the first world war, did one of the most dangerous jobs there was to be had as a 'runner' taking messages between various commanding officer in the front line. Then, as now, communication was vitally important and the runners were under constant sniper fire as the enemy tried to stop tactical messages getting through. He did that until he got caught up in a mustard gas attack, it didn't kill him but he got enough of it to get sent home. He was offered an honourable discharge from the army, but once he'd recovered sufficiently he went back to the front line.

Now if someone like my Grandad can make the choice, in the name of fighting fo our freedoms, to go back to the horrors and the hell he'd already witnessed - instead of sitting out the war at home as he could quite legitimately have done - then I'm quite sure I can walk a half mile to the polling station to exercise the freedom that he and millions of others fought to give me.

The trouble with democracy is that, like everything else in life, it's not perfect. Politics, especially at local level, can be petty. At national level it can be very ugly, with all sorts of extremists at the fringe of politics fighting to deny the same basic human freedoms that my Grandad fought for. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely and there are still politicians of every persuasion trying to get that power. Sometimes it's for the right reasons and they genuinely want to serve, but all to often it's for reasons of personal ego and pomposity, or in these days of 'professional' politicians, to sustain their career. The result is the sort of political manoeuvering, deals done in smoke filled rooms, back stabbing and sometimes corrupt sort of politics that we so often see. The whole thing can be a pretty shabby business.

However in my view the main problem with democracy is human nature. There is huge pressure on the political parties to persuade people to vote their way, which translates to aligning themselves with what they hope is the majority of public opinion (which in itself is hugely influenced by a handful of media moguls) and promising that group of people pretty much everything they want. If getting out of Europe (step forward the Rupert Murdoch press) is the main agenda item, there will be a political party promising action. If asylum seekers and immigration is the hot topic (influenced by the Daily Express) once again someone will step forward to promise action.

And what do we do when we step forward to vote? Do we put aside our personal aspirations and vote for the people who have the most rounded agenda for the good of the whole nation. No! Human nature dictates that we vote for the party that promises the most for ourselves. The party that promises to give us what we want at a personal level and aligns themselves best with our own view of the world (however skewed that might be) is the one that gets it.

It's been the same since Roman times "give the people bread and circuses".


: "Jools, get off your soap box and talk Ducati"

Jools: "Fair point rodent"

[Glyn]

i agree with the rodent
calm down jools old chap



id vote ducati every time