The General Election
Tomorrow – 05/05/05 – is the General Election here in the UK. It will be the third since I’ve been of voting age, but the first in which I will be casting a vote.
There are six candidates standing in my constituency – the big three parties (Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat), plus three single-issue parties; UKIP (anti-Europe), National Front (knuckle-dragging racist scum) and the Motorcycle News Party, who seem to be campaigning for better roads for bikers.
Make your mind up time
I’m still undecided.
I have two contradictory impulses on which way to vote. One: with a relatively small majority, the Labour incumbent Helen Clark (who was once quoted as saying her looks had held her back in politics – I’ll let you be the judge of that!) is at risk of losing her seat to the Conservatives, which would obviously be a BAD THING. This makes me want to vote Labour; but…
Two: I cannot in all good conscience vote for Labour. I don’t believe what they say, Bliar is a grinning loon who led us into an illegal war which killed 50,000+ people, and their policies seem to be shifting ever further to the right.
Rock and a hard place
And so I’m left to decide which is the lesser of two evils. Do I vote LibDem, and hate myself if the Tories take the seat because of the low Labour vote? Or do I vote Labour, and hate myself anyway?
And should I be looking at the big picture at all? It’s not as if I’m actually voting for Tony Blair or Charles Kennedy; I’m supposed to be choosing an MP who will do what I think is best for their constituents (me included).
I guess I’m one of those ‘floating voters’ that we keep being told are so important in this election. Not here, apparently – the only visitors we’ve had have been Conservative form-fillers, asking who we will be voting for (“Not you, f%&k off” – my wife says I shouldn’t be rude to them; personally I think anyone coming uninvited to my house to ask me personal questions is pretty f&%king rude in the first place) and a few leaflets shoved through the door.
Hell, it probably doesn’t matter anyway – whoever you vote for, the government always gets in.
Filed under: Politics.
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It actually was quite a difficult decision as our local Labour MP actually voted against the war. Thankfully, he voted for ID cards and trial without jury so I can vote against him with peace of mind.