Apathy/annoyance at non voter

[Ftlofg]

I am being a bit unreasonable but cant help it. Dm is what most people on here would class as either underclass/low working class. Not as stereotypical as the ones you see on tv we grew up in poverty but home was slways clean and well presented as were we. Kids including myself all grown up into mostly socially responsible adults. This is just to give context As i wonder if background plays a part. Basically she got a bit annoyed at me as her pip is up for renewal and has been rejected (in line imo with tory cutbacks and not because her condition has changed she is most likely to appeal ). I tried explaining that being rejected is most likely a result of tory cutbacks against the disabled and maybe she sould consider voting against them in thr next election. Dm doesnt believe me and refuses to vote. Doesnt believe me about the 2 child rule in april neither. Aibu for not really having any sympathy for her predicament if she isnt at least willing to do the minimal thing of voting. Appatently last time she voted was for m thatcher. Of course this is entirely my opinion but the torys have no interest in the likes of my dm who is disabled and cant work/havent worked most of working life. She has only just in yje last 5 years become disabled before tjat she was a single uneployed parent. Im on phone so apologies for soelling etc and probably slow reply.

I don't think anyone on here would refer to anyone as an underclass.

I also think it is entirely up to your mother if she wants to vote or not and if she does she can vote for whichever party she wants to not for who you tell her to vote for.

Voting isn't compulsory yet in the UK.

However, leaving party politics out of it for now (Tory voter), I do think that if you don't vote, you can't complain.

at "underclass".

I understand your frustation, but even if your mother had voted at any of the elections, she would still find herself in the sane predicament as now.

Her one single vote would have made no difference to the final outcome.

I didn't think those of a left leaning political allegiance (which I assume you are OP) would use the word 'underclass'?

Very that's a ridiculous thing to say.
If we all thought our one small vote wouldn't make any difference Nigel Farage could be running the country.
Every vote counts.

I didn't think those of a left leaning political allegiance (which I assume you are OP) would use the word 'underclass'?

To be fair, I wouldn't expect too many people of a right leaning political persuasion to use that term either.

Well no but the left would, I imagine, be less snotty about that sort of thing

Very that's a ridiculous thing to say.
If we all thought our one small vote wouldn't make any difference Nigel Farage could be running the country.
Every vote counts.

How is it ridiculous?

Are you saying that if OP's mother had voted, the election result would somehow be different?

We are not talking about anyone else here, just one person.

And she only has one vote, not ten thousand.

Yes, underclass is not a nice thing to call anyone, let alone your own mum, who by the sounds of it, gave you a good start in life, even though things must have been hard.

But yanbu to say non voters can't moan about the situation if they aren't prepared to do anything to make a change.

I think it's very easy to feel your vote doesn't matter and that all politicians are the same anyway. Regardlsss of social standing but I think especially for the "lower working class" who are so far removed from often public school educated "posh" politicians.

Who is your mums MP? If she's in a labour/Lib dem/SNP/Plaid Cymru/NI Party that I can't name constituency then it doesn't matter if she would've voted against Tories as they didn't get in the seat she was voting on anyway.

I do agree with don't vote don't complain generally btw! My dad is more affected by brexit than most as he lives in an EU country but he didn't bother to vote.

People should always have the choice not to vote. I would rather someone who feels no candidate deserves their support or genuinely doesn't give two shits either way exercised their right not to vote than put a cross against a name at random. Or worse, voted Tory / Labour / SNP / Lib Dem / whoever simply because they always vote for them regardless of what they do.

I understand you blaming the Tories - they are in power, after all - but the truth is that NONE of the mainstream parties give a shit about people like you, your friends or your relatives. Only fringe parties could genuinely care, and if they somehow did get in their lack of experience and understanding of how politics works in the real world would probably leave us in a worse position than the usual Tory/Labour rotation.

But people do not HAVE to vote, for whatever reason. Voting is a right and not an obligation. Choose to vote for whoever you like, or choose not to. Sometimes Often none of the candidates are worthy choices!

My point is - we all only have one vote.
If we all didn't vote because "it's only one vote" the extreme left and right parties would do very well, because their small number of voters would be more effective.

Totally her choice not to vote if she doesn't want to, and can see no reason why she can't complain, just if she doesn't vote.

My point is - we all only have one vote.
If we all didn't vote because "it's only one vote" the extreme left and right parties would do very well, because their small number of voters would be more effective.

I know what your point is.

It doesn't change the fact that I was talking about the OP's mother only - only the OP's mother - not anyone else and their voting habits.

And whether the OP's mother (not anyone else, ONLY the OP's mother) had voted or not, it would not have changed the final result.

She would still be sitting complaining about her lot, only with more - some might argue - justification because she had at least used her vote.

OP your mum can use/not use her vote as she sees fit.
She can also vote for who she wants to.

It is not up to you to tell her whether to vote and who to vote for/against. Your opinion is expressed with your vote, her opinion is expressed with her vote or lack thereof.

People who don't vote are not part of an "underclass". Everyone has a free choice whether and how to vote.

FPTP will never give us a fair result but I agree if you don't vote you can't complain

It's up to your mother if she wants to vote or not. Not voting isn't illegal.

I gave up reading when you said your DM was underclass.

What you're actually saying is 'AIBU to want my mum to vote labour.'

YABU to call your own DM "underclass". By your own admission you and your siblings were brought up to be socially responsible productive members of society. So she must have done something right

Please refer me to where i have called my dm underclass. My mistake is using the work 'most' whereas i should have used the word 'some' in that sentence. Ive been on MN long enough to have read people referring to certain group of people as underclass, and for the most part my upbringing would fit their criteria (in fact before reading it on mn id never heard of the word, i just considered my childhood was marred by poverty). And i think myself certainly being who i am today is in spite of dm rather than because of her but thats not down to her being an unemployed single parent but rather 15 years of enduring abuse at hands of sd. But as other people have said, it more about feeling you cant moan about your circumstances which certain political parties have placed you in if you dont vote. But ill admit to bu when i found it annoying when she insisted that the government couldnt stop tax credits for more than 2 children.

And for the record i would never insist my mum vote Labour. she could vote green or independent or whatever.

Nobody should be refered to as underclass that's completely awful.

When did underclass become an insult? What word are you supposed to use for people who are disenfranchised?
The condition isnt very nice, you dont have to make the word not nice by association.

www.ldoceonline.com/Sociology-topic/underclass