voting

I did the same locally for that reason

 

I was trying to work out if No2EU was a socialist party or another UKIP. What a terrible name!

 

Good to see you back mate. Like a moth to a flame

 

Trade Union/Left Wing coalition opposed to the EU on the basis of it being a capitalist club and not due to being afraid of foreigners

 

Racist commie.

 

I felt the need to log in and say that this is a brilliant post

 

Huzzah

 

Yay! Welcome back, young sir. You've definitely been missed, mate.

 

Thanks Jay, Big Lil. How can we by apathetic about voting and politics but bat **** mental about BFC, cos one things for certain I've got more chance of influencing how the country is run than affecting the fortunes of BFC

 

It's easy for me, mate. I'm simply Chiroptera faecally challenged all the time!

 

There's a difference between not voting because you don't think the person you're voting for will get in, and not voting because you don't identify with the policies of any of the parties on offer. It seems like your argument is aimed at the first group (and I agree completely - if you agree with a party then you should go out and vote for them, whether or not they're going to win), but you explicitly reference the second in your last line. And for those people your argument doesn't really make sense. I'll admit that there are one or two Green policies which I'd like to see adopted more generally (for that matter, there are one or two Ukip ideas that I find appealing), but nowhere near enough for me to want to put my vote behind them.

I honestly think that what I believe in is best served by bringing down the turnout - that's the only way that I as an individual can represent my anger at the whole corrupt self-serving system and everybody in it. I understand that lots of people disagree with this, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I lent my vote to any of the parties.

Apart from anything else, wasn't the best way to show that you disagreed with university tuition fees in 2010 to vote Lib Dem?

 

But your not ticking a box to say 'I'm not voting because of my anger at the whole corrupt self-serving system'. You are just not voting, which means anyone - the media, the politicians, the spin doctors, whoever - can choose to represent your lack of vote however they see fit.

Labour may see it as you are a traditional Labour voter who blames them for the financial crisis but can't bring themselves to vote for the right and so reduce public spending to try and win your vote.
Tories may see you as a right wing voter who is anti-immigration but doesn't like the tone of UKIPs argument and becomes more Euro-sceptic.
Lib Dems might think you were a Lib Dem voter who's trust they will never regain so try and occupy the centre ground to gain floating voters, leading to no alternative to the other two parties.
UKIP might use your non-vote to push their argument that it is a nod to their anti-politics which in turn scares the mainstream parties to move their policies to appeal to UKIP voters.

And to be fair to the Lib Dems, if more people had voted for them, Labour and Greens in the last election they would have formed a centre-left coalition instead of proping up the horror show of this government. Not defending them for making that choice, just saying if more disgruntled left wing voters had actually voted then we would potentially have had a progressive left coalition.

 

Make me a WSB badge wi that on...

 

I post gold on here DAILY and this is what brings you back?

Jesus.

 

That's a fair point. However, unfortunately, in these situations you have to go least worst. And I'd rather that we had 100% turnout and a UKIP government than a 30% turnout where the government don't represent the people properly.

 

In these situations you go with the least worst........

Let me challenge you a little here.

This is a local election and a European election.

What would the TUSC do any different on local issues.

Local issues are bin collections, schools, roads, child protection services, old folks, car parks, the market development and planning permission.

Forgive me for picking out yourself - I simply wish to illustrate a belief (and to be fair you may be one of the few exceptions and might provide some rational debate) that people vote on national or philosopical issues rather than whether the people putting themselves forwards are the right person to run the bins / schools and roads in our area.


Frankly I can't see much thought being put into these issues myself. Anyone who thinks that Roy Miller, Margaret Morgan or Pauline Markham should be allowed anywhere near a budget needs locking up

 

I get fed up of hearing the 'no point voting' argument, because the loony parties' members will always vote, no matter what the weather, so for every person not voting it makes it more and more likely that crackpots will get elected. And it's not just in local or European elections either. In the 2005 general election Labour got in with a 35.2% share of the vote. Yet 38.6% of the electorate didn't bother voting. If we could knock together enough candidates and get every non-voter to pledge their vote to us we could get in with the 'Abolish the Premiership' party.

But seriously, imagine what could happen if the abstainers increased and UKIP or BNP upped their vote by 10 or 20%. Doesn't bear thinking about.

 

Mr C and Ark104 both back

 

I get that. But local issues aren't as simple as you're making out. If they were, we'd just vote in project managers to make it run properly.

I think local issues are quite similar to national - budget prioritsation, where to make cuts, where to invest, who to work with etc. I voted TUSC because I don't neccessarily agree with Labour locally on a few things. I do, though, think Dan Jarvis is a good MP so I'd vote for 'em nationally but then I think Milliband is stealing a living.

But voting UKIP for local elections because you disagree with EU is mental IMHO.