It’s election time and it’s already been an entire 5 years since we had the opportunity to vote for that MP who lives where we live and has made our district better? Probably? I don’t really know. Who cares. If you’re like me, you’re a broad stroke voter who only cares about big stuff, like the economy? Maybe? Not enough to really properly learn about how it works, but enough to care if it’s ‘bad’, or better but in a ‘bad’ way. Listen, we’re getting off track!
This is possibly the most interesting election ever. And if that bit of hyperbole doesn’t make you want to read on then go off, watch this, and thanks for playing:
For the purpose of this blog, the relative merits of the political parties don’t matter. Once I’ve bothered to read the manifestos, I will explain who I am and am not voting for and why. But for now, all I want to do is make you care about voting.
A Yougov poll recently revealed that more than 2 million young people like myself will abstain from the vote. So what I want to get across is that you can’t not vote. Not voting is a vote for things to stay the same. You’re leaving your future in the hands of the people that have presumably always voted against your interests. Older people have generally always voted and younger people have generally not given a shit. That’s why so many wonderful pension benefits have been rolled out ahead of the election, and also why student fees have tripled. Why would they act in our interests if we don’t act interested? If you’re not happy, you need to punish them.
Don’t listen to Russell Brand, if you can’t find a party that represents you perfectly then find one that mostly does. This will lead the political discussion in a certain direction and drag everyone with it. If that sounds fanciful then think of how the joke parties of 2010 like UKIP and the Greens are starting to scare everyone because they just might do something in this year’s election. Think of how the SNP are in the process of eradicating the influence of all the English-based parties in Scotland. Think of how the Liberal Democrats went from being plucky no-hopers to real movers in government after just three televised debates where Nick Clegg won us all over.
If you’re European-minded then think of Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party in Greece. You may have heard of them in the news. Well, this radical political party was founded a mere 11 years ago, and now they are in charge because they rallied the nation’s young voters.
If you’re not European-minded, but are instead historically-minded then just think about the history of the Labour party for a bit…
Not giving a shit leads to things you don’t want. Just as an example, I know several people were alarmed that UKIP ‘won’ the European Parliament elections in Britain. Ask yourself, are you one of the people who didn’t worry about UKIP because you thought that when it came down to it no-one would be crazy enough to vote for them? Well that didn’t happen then and it might not happen now. You’re giving the voters that you disagree with free rein, allowing them to make things better for themselves possibly at your expense.
The whole point of voting is change. That’s why we don’t have mad Kings and Queens who get to capriciously make rules any more. Voting does change things and I hope I’ve given you just a flavour of how quickly real change can happen. The political landscape today is completely different from 2010.
A recent BBC3 programme, An Idiot’s Guide to Politics tried to get to the bottom of why the young don’t vote and came to the conclusion that it’s because politicians lie all the time and we feel that therefore there is no point. While this explanation has the wonderful quality of taking the onus off us, I feel that it is a bit too generous. I personally think it’s because we’re not taught a lot about it in our education, AND that we genuinely don’t give a shit.
Why does the lying politician line not fly with me? Well the fact is that when you and I get older we are going to vote (and we’re more likely to vote Tory), we will suddenly give a shit because we feel it affects us. Not because politicians will become more honest as we age, but simply because we will perceive that politics is affecting us more. It’s a vicious cycle where politicians don’t help out the young because they don’t vote, and the young don’t vote because the politicians don’t help them out.
So let’s talk about this election; what the fuck is going on?
If the polls are anything to go by then there’s barely anything in it between the two major parties: Conservative and Labour. Indicating that we may be in for consecutive hung parliaments and another coalition.
What makes this really juicy is the supporting cast!
With the polls indicating that the Liberal Democrats will accrue a mere 10% of the vote and that the key players are less than certain of their seats, it seems that dreams of a decade of Lib Dem rule spectacularly exploded within 6 months of gaining some superficial power. It’s been so bad that even the offer of free money to every tax payer has not spared them.*
Now that the Lib Dems are not the king-makers they were 5 years ago, what wild cards do we have to think about this year?
The Green party have leapfrogged the Lib Dems in popularity among the young for no apparent reason. It was something to do with them not being allowed on TV with Dave Cameron, even though Dave Cameron really wanted them there, so much so that he threatened to not be on TV any more. Some such bullshit. Anyway, for the time being they have a growing support mainly made up of younger people who have responded to a radical party that offers them real revolutionary change…and amusing viral videos.
The Scottish National Party are predicted to possess the third highest amount of seats. This seems strange for a party that is apparently perpetually locked in a gentleman’s agreement to not vote on issues to do with England. Stranger still, a party that wanted nothing to do with Westminster 6 months ago. But I guess they deserve their luck, as they managed to make the Scottish give a shit about politics and stuff. Even if the shit they gave was to confirm their position as a large county in the north of England.
Finally, we have UKIP, the one you know everything about so I probably don’t need to cover it here.
There are a lot of possibilities here. It’s not just a straightforward Labour versus Conservative punch-up any more! The major parties need to appeal to an electorate they haven’t faced before – a more nuanced electorate. Your vote will really influence the direction of the next 5 years. A vote for these smaller parties reduces the power of the large parties and they will need to find ways to appeal to us again. Anyone who doubts this should think about how the both Conservative and Labour in the aftermath of the European Parliament elections have tried to appeal to UKIP voters rather than dismiss them as fanatical.
We could have:
Conservative – Liberal
Labour – Liberal
Labour – SNP
Labour – Green
Conservative – UKIP
There could be crazy concatenations of three or more parties!
So please young people of Britain, give a shit. The fact is that if anywhere near 2 million extra people voted this summer then things really could change in a weird and unpredictable way. I don’t want to beg you to vote because I want to push an agenda (those blog posts come later). I just want you all to mix things up, keep things interesting, make sure our votes matter, and give a shit.**
*If I were in charge I’d have ingeniously called the raising of the tax allowance to £10,000 a free money pledge
**It’s occurred to me that this ‘give a shit’ thing is turning into a bit of a line, potentially a political line. I’m okay with this.
psychopolemic 