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REASONS NOT TO VOTE

Doug | 30.04.2005 07:39

Don't vote, it only encourages them.

Reasons not to vote.

There is no democratic mandate to govern.

Over many years successive UK governments have lacked a democratic mandate to govern from a majority of the people. Indeed, the present government only had 40% support from voters and 24% support from the electorate as a whole. The 2001 General Election had the lowest turnout since 1918. UK government has been described as ‘an elected dictatorship’ or a political system suffering from a ‘democratic deficit’, where MPs can’t speak their mind for fear of deselection. Under the Royal Prerogative the Prime Minister can take the country to war without parliamentary approval. It is said that Governments listen to big business and the financial markets more than their own citizens.

First Past the Post

Under our FPTP system minor parties are unfairly discriminated against. It is perfectly possible for a party to get 25% of the votes but only 3% of the seats in Parliament, as did the Liberal/SDP Alliance in the 1983 election. Also, the funding and media exposure of political parties is unequal and unfair.

Vote rigging.

Postal voting has been shown to be prone to fraud. It is also the custom among major parties not to run a candidate in the Speaker's constituency thus disenfranchising its voters. If they can do it in one constituency they can do it in others. Tactical voting and vote trading by voters further skews the result.

Conspiring political parties.

Under certain circumstances, such as perceived threats to national security, the two major parties will unite, effectively transforming us into a One Party State, regardless of the will of the people.

What you can’t vote on.

We can’t choose our leaders, they are chosen for us by political parties. You can’t vote on foreign policy such as defence or on the arms trade. As the world's fourth largest economy UK is its second biggest arms producer.

Lack of accountability.

There are American bases, with nuclear weapons on our soil which are unaccountable both to Parliament and the people. Menwith Hill spy base also carries out unlawful telephone and internet surveillance on UK citizens.

Political globalisation.

There is erosion of nation states due to globalisation. Decisions which profoundly affect UK citizens are made abroad by unelected people and organisations. NATO, WTO, UN, WB, G8, NGOs, Multinationals, etc.

"On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."'

-Douglas Adams, 'So Long And Thanks For All The Fish'

UK Radical Campaigns
 http://www.zing.icom43.net
Don't vote, it only encourages them.
If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal.

Doug

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

This is childish puerile crap

30.04.2005 09:42

This kind of defeatist crap makes me sick. You think you're being ever-so-worldy-wise but you're actually just a sad victim of our messed up, atomised consumerist society. The system does not revolve around you and it will not collapse just because you're too lazy or confused to participate. Democracy is more than just a matter of consumer preference; it's a civic duty. If you don't like the mainstream parties then Vote Green, Vote Respect or (and I know this is going to be really difficult for an overgrown spoilt child like you to get you head round) do something about it by getting stuck in there and standing as a candidate yourself.

The right wing elite would like nothing more than for us all to give up on the last remnants of democracy and let them run the whole show unimpeded. I hate to break it to you, but if you think this society's in a mess you should look at places like Thailand, where democracy really has been corrupted, or Burundi, where the rule of law has broken down completely. There's an awful lot wrong with our system - but it could be a hell of a lot worse - and the only way to fix it is to get stuck in there and punish our cynical politicians at the ballot box.

There are millions of people around the world fighting for the simple right to vote in a free election. Yours has been handed to you on a plate. You're like a spolit child who won't eat his greens. "The system's not perfect so I'm just going to sit at home and write my blog". You sad little bourgeois fuck.

..
mail e-mail: ..


Dont Vote Except ...

30.04.2005 09:50


Don’t vote, except if a sound non-mainstream party has a chance of making a mark.

The lower the turnout the better.

The best result is a hung parliament on a low turnout, with Libs and Labs working together. Under these circumstances there might be a move to PR on the German model, which will give them a platform, exposure, funding and resources to them.

Of course the most beneficial position is to have the ruling elite divided, which of which the election result is not that significant.

What we will see is the ruling/power elite going through a phase of pretending to be united. This is because they are losing contro, along with their senses – it’s out of their slippery hands – but in ours.


things are beginning to get out of hand, and there's nothing on this world they can do about. No matter the pretence, propaganda, and false augments, and lies put forward. They will eat themselves with their own stupidly. Just sit back, be cool, and watch the farce.

History is beginning to be made, or maybe not !

And on, and on and on ...

Edward Campbell
mail e-mail: no more email any more


Don't vote, organise

30.04.2005 12:29

I think it may be you who is the "bourgeois fuck", with your rather telling assumption that if somebody isn't voting, they aren't engaging in political activity. Some of us are working in our local communities and/or planning for the anti-G8 mobilisations and/or a hundred other forms of direct action. Why should we waste our time on the pointless gesture of voting, when we could instead be spending our time building a genuinely democratic alternative?

Voluntary Slave


But use your power to vote

30.04.2005 15:16

Politicians want your votes so that is leverage to help persuade them to sign the pledge to implement the Simultaneous Policy (SP). SP is being developed by people around the world (anyone can take part by signing up as an SP Adopter at  http://www.simpol.org.uk/) to address global problems such as climate change, unfair trade, unregulated corporate power and unsustainability. Politicians are asked to pledge to implement it alongside other governments.

This is a parallel strategy to other campaigning and recognises, as set out above, that our present democracy is a pseudo-democracy. Governments are forced to compete for investment and jobs and so are beholden to corporations and financial markets. International institutions are untransparent and undemocratic. The policies they produce frequently make the world's problems worse, not better. SP gives the people the power to make the policies and politicians the option to implement them alongside other governments or lose power. So that's a reason to vote for candidates who have signed the SP pledge. The more support for SP becomes a vote-winning and ultimately election-winning issue, the sooner implementation will be achieved. There are presently 28 constituencies where candidates have signed the pledge. See  http://www.simpol.org.uk/ for details.

Mike Brady
mail e-mail: mikebrady@simpol.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.simpol.org.uk/


I know I'm just childish and purile...

30.04.2005 22:30

sod the civic duty what choice have I got outside of the 3 main parties? In my constituceny the BNP! No sir I'll be spoiling my ballot.

No doubt mister .. would be more than pleased to vote even if the choice was Hitler and Pol Pot, it's your civic duty after all.

"Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"

The only bourgeois person around here is the one who arogantly presumes that just because you don't vote you aren't involved/interested in politics nor are you taking action to change things.

sciri


Spoilt ballots are counter-productive

01.05.2005 13:19

To anyone wishing to spoil their ballots, I would say don't bother. Though it may be traditional for people who are dissatisfied with the choices available to ruin their ballot or write something to the effect of "Abstention" across the list of candidates, the vote counts make no distinction between ballots which have been spoiled on purpose and those which have been defaced accidentally: both are rendered equally void and consequently discarded.

Conversely, all those whose ballots are spoiled, either by accident or on purpose, are still counted in the turnout of voters - ie. if 60% of the population show up at their polling station and hand in their ballots, but a third of those ballots are spoiled, the turnout is still counted as 60% rather than 40%. So if you don't want to legitimise, by voting, a system which you believe is undemocratic, handing in a spoiled ballot does exactly that, without allowing you even what little voice you have under the FPTP system.

Personally, I'm grateful to God (figure of speech)for the freedoms we have in Britain, even though I believe that they're given to appease us rather than out of genuine benevolence. But voting is not the only way to make your voice heard, as i'm sue anyone reading this is aware

Dweezil


Spoilt ballots are counter-productive

01.05.2005 17:03

To anyone wishing to spoil their ballots, I would say don't bother. Though it may be traditional for people who are dissatisfied with the choices available to ruin their ballot or write something to the effect of "Abstention" across the list of candidates, the vote counts make no distinction between ballots which have been spoiled on purpose and those which have been defaced accidentally: both are rendered equally void and consequently discarded.

Conversely, all those whose ballots are spoiled, either by accident or on purpose, are still counted in the turnout of voters - ie. if 60% of the population show up at their polling station and hand in their ballots, but a third of those ballots are spoiled, the turnout is still counted as 60% rather than 40%. So if you don't want to legitimise, by voting, a system which you believe is undemocratic, handing in a spoiled ballot does exactly that, without allowing you even what little voice you have under the FPTP system.

Personally, I'm grateful to God (figure of speech)for the freedoms we have in Britain, even though I believe that they're given to appease us rather than out of genuine benevolence. But voting is not the only way to make your voice heard, as i'm sue anyone reading this is aware

Dweezil


more fucking trolls

02.05.2005 11:55

which corporation are you voting for then? which civil servant are you voting for. which polic captain and army general? Fuck off you trolls. Media lies and spies. I suppose you like Oliver Cromwell and his war on DIY culture. eat shit and die

the bourgious vote


Christ its that twat from Big Brother

03.05.2005 11:35

Man who the fuck are you? You need to think a bit more before you start slagging people down. Did you escape from the pages of the Daily Mail? Are you 15 years old?

I wasn't saying "vote instead of spoiling your ballot", i was simply saying that spoilt ballots are a counter-productive way of abstaining. If you don't want to legitimise the system by voting then you should know that the traditional alternative, which most people use as a counter to the "non-voters are apathetic" arguments, ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTES TO legitimising the system, because spoilt ballots still count in the voter turnout, and they MAKE NO DIFFERENCE other than that and to your own ignorant conscience because THEY ARE DISCARDED.

If you want to register a protest on election day, eat your ballot, picket your polling station, or don't vote at all and then write to your MP explaining why (ooh too "establishment" i guess, but that would produce the same effect as a spoilt ballot is believed to do - a single vote of no-confidence), try and steal a ballot box, slit your wrists and piss blood all over the old people overseeing the ballot. Do what you want. No one has the right to tell anyone to vote or not to vote, so i didn't. But i thought i'd try and inform people with whom i sympathise of this perspective because otherwise they might inadvertantly perform a political action which contradicts their own ideals.

Perhaps if i had said that i actually had no intention of voting for reasons similar to those posted on this thread, that i too own a zapatista t-shirt (fake - made in china, but stolen from work if that absolves me), or that i also refer to police as pigs when they're not in ear-shot, then i might have had enough activist credibility for you to refrain from crying fascist, but i thought the point open media was the quality of the information, not the ego behind it. Now please calm down, you fucking chief.

Dweezil


Bourgeois fucks of the world unite....

03.05.2005 12:26

The real problem for people who want radical change in this country is that most of our compatriots don't see it the same way we do. If the majority in this country really cared about freedom, tolerance, fairness, and the environment then they would vote accordingly. The reason this doesn't happen isn't because our system is unfair; I'm sorry to say that it's because the majority of Brits don't give enough of a damn to vote for a genuine alternative. They're rather more concerned with their next holiday destination than they are with the state of the world.

So you can withdraw from the system in disgust if you like, but that'll just make it easier for those in power to ignore you. And you can work instead for some kind of grassroots revolution - but if we can't persuade people to back radicalism at the ballot box, how likely is it that we'll get them out on the streets fighting for a revolution?

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm dismissing other forms of poltical activity. Community initiatives, protests, direct actions are all worthwhile - I totally agree that those things are essential in getting the majority out there to wake up and see what's really going on. But none of those things are going to get Tony Blair kicked out of Sedgefield on May 7th. Supporting Reg Keys, on the other hand, will. Would you tell the voters of Sedgefield to stay at home on thursday?

If everyone who's planning not to vote at this election decided instead to go out and vote Green, that would turn the political landscape of this country upside down.

"All that's required for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing."

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