ELECTION 2010: Get Involved

By KOS Media news editor Simon Robinson.

 

If general public interest in politics were displayed in pie chart form it would predominantly consist of just one colour and labelled with a giant thumbs down.

The electorate’s widespread belief that our MPs and would-be replacements are all stereotypical soundbite-belching, back-stabbing, policy-pinching politicians has led to widespread voter apathy, with turn-out at the polls steadily declining.

Apart from the odd expose on second home fiddles or MPs’ sex and fetish related sleaze story, politics rarely captures the public’s imagination or sparks widespread debate.

But every so often all the right ingredients come together to propel politics up in the interest stakes, sending Question Time ratings through the roof.

Such a time is upon us – the General Election is but weeks away and this one’s going to be a cracker.

Importantly, there’s no clear favourite in the race for Number 10.

In the one corner we have red-rosette-wearing Scotsman Gordon Brown and in the other his blue counterpart David ‘call me Dave’ Cameron.

The boring days when Tony Blair and his loyal Blairites would walk it without breaking a sweat are long gone.

This is a proper head to head race. Winner takes all and every vote counts.

And that makes it all exciting for us, the electorate.

We can watch the heavyweight political rivals shout, tease, provoke and point at each other during the heated Prime Minister’s Question Time sessions.

As things stand, this election is practically teetering on the edge of being settled behind the Houses of Parliament bike shed.

Battle lines have well and truly been drawn, from Westminster to the farthest reaches of the UK.

 MPs in marginal constituencies are working their socks off to hold on retain their seats while prospective parliamentary candidates are working just as hard to snatch them off them.

Look outside your house/office/train now. I’ll bet within ten minutes you’ll be able to spot a campaigner canvassing for your vote.

And they’ll do anything to get you on side. So why see what they’re willing to offer you in return for your ‘x’ against their name when you go to the polls.

Your support is surely worth at least a Mars bar? Or perhaps you can convince your MP to hop on one leg in return for your vote?

It’s worth a go.

And when our MPs and wannabe-MPs are not out door-knocking their constituents, they’re back at HQ desperately seeking some dirt to fling at their opposition.

It’s like watching the Trisha show.

“He’ll raise taxes... and he supports ID cards,” one MPs press release could potentially scream.

“No I won’t... and no I don’t, they’re lying. Besides his party wants to hand over power to Brussels,” comes the ever escalating response.

Fantastic entertainment.

It’s like Pop Stars: The Rivals, but instead of pitting the boys against the girls, we’ve got the reds against the blues (and in the interest of fairness, yellows, greens and other assorted colours).

So I urge you, pay attention and get involved.

Once the election is over the boring political status quo will soon be restored.

That is until the next Cabinet member’s sleaze scandal is spread across the tabloids.

 Seems to me that it's the same old ,same old this time round. " We'll run things better than the other lot".  Meanwhile the real 'isshues' as dear old Tony Benn says, get pushed out by all the mud slinging, false (usually) promises & general waffle ; and as in my area -Folkestone- a virtual cert that the sitting MP (or same Party as' He of the Night' is retiring) will walk it.   One early online Poll i've seen shows 55% won't vote!)
Also, with no Proportional Representation system, it can makes things even worse since I cannot even put an alternative.  The main contenter to the Tories being Lib Dem, but the Green Party also likely to stand, under PR I could at least 1.2  them either way, but not with current system.  (Though even with this it would be unlikely to affect outcome (?).

My' isshues' would be the cancelling of ID Cards, cutting surveillence state, cancel Trident missiles and transfer the likely £150 billion odd into the Green New  Deal (sans anyting for new nuke power)- about £45 billion.- and public transport and dealing with the social and economic reasons why people may get into trouble in the first place.. Also breaking up the Banks and turning most into social enterprise model or mutuals./ Setting up the Tobin Tax (Robin Hood) to help developing world - bypassing Governments there as far as poss'.

However, under the current set-up none of the above is likely to be that far up on the agendas for Neo Con Lab or the Tories.. (Even allowing for 'promises,promises')

Is it any wonder that we hear people saying they won't vote or they're going to the extremes (even if only in protest) ?

I really cannot understand the mentality of anyone even considering voting anything other than Conservative at the next election.

If you bought a brand new car from the only garage in town, and over the past few years, in spite of your car being serviced regularly by this garage, it has got worse and worse until it is barely running at all.  All of a sudden, a new garage opens for business.  Do you stick with the original garage, responding to the owners plea of "Give us a second chance, Guv, we'll put it all right, but, No, we still use the same mechanics and we haven't got any new machines"  OR do you go to the new guys and put your trust in the new team and new machines.  There really is no roomfor discussion at the end of the day, Is there?

There is little point in getting involved in the closed shop of modern party politics. The hysterical aggression of an adversarial system is a front that suits participants. Anyone who wants a quiet life keeps their head down while there is mayhem and murder around them. I stood as an independent for my local council and did the door-knocking. A woman who knew me lived in an ancient cottage near the river.  Her street is overshadowed and surrounded by tower blocks, where postal fraud was discovered, and rough housing estates. She voted for me but told me that I would never get in - there were too many economically dependent non-workers and "unknowns" in the tower blocks who would keep labour in, or vote Tory as a protest against complacent labour in a town that had a proud heritage once with its own industries and character, three cinemas in the good old days, all gone and unrecognisable now,  cinemas and old town centre vanished under Tory control. Remeber the Tory citizens charter and local agenda 21?  All lip service hypocrisy became common and useful in politics to lull the gullible. In reality neglect and decay laid waste to town centres, industries died with nothing to replace them and now mass unemployment thanks to EU opendoor. Now a jobless recovery is forecast - plenty of jobs at the top, none for the rest of us?

Who really believes in democracy anymore? We have sunk into a pit of bureaucracy where former public service managers can set their own level of salaries and bonuses, while expecting front line service to be done on minimum or low wages. I challenge all political parties to get rid of inappropriate corporate director and chief executive status and perks. We must have a clear definition of public service and not pretend that they are anything except monopolies and cartels. As for Tory PR and soundbites, KCC pays its heads of service far more than they are worth - they can afford "executives", healthcheck telephone "help lines" and TV channels, council websites, internally produced newspapers but nothing of real value to repay us or good value for money.

Bashing the motorist with parking charges and potholes that get worse in size and number every year, I have no doubt   Consumer protection, health & safety, public transport - everything is run for the convenience of bosses, committees and "boards".  Jobs for cronies and associates resulted from every quango and extra layers of bureaucracy that cost us legal, set-up and salary costs.  What use they are to taxpayers is debatable but every political party relies on the extra 3 million non-job-creation of the last two decades. They are laughing all the way to the bank on our money - what happens when workers through no fault of their own become job seekers on the lowest benefits, with bailiffs and banks breathing down our necks constantly and only a pittance to live on?  Will debtor prisons reappear?