to not use my vote at the election

[ThatVikRinA22]

bracing myself...

but i dont believe in any of the policies ive not seen so far - ive no idea who stands for what. no one is canvassing in our area and i think politicians are full of shit anyway.

so for the first time ever i dont think im going to vote at all. cant see the point in voting for a party (any party?) when i dont understand what they stand for and dont know what that is anyway.

yes i know what women did 100 years ago to ge the vote etc etc but is sticking a X in a box at random any better than not voting? id have to go eeny meeny miney moe....

for the record when this thread goes tits up im hiding it....and probably name changing

excellent link. That brings it back. I remember Kennedy at the time, trying to play all sides, but never convincing.

I was on the anti-war march. It was addressed by Charles Kennedy. I'm pretty sure he did not say 'Hey, the war's a great idea, why don't you all piss off home'.

The Lib Dems voted against the war before it started. Then they shifted their policy to 'We have to support our troops'. Probably because they were actually paying too much attention to the voters, and didn't want to piss off the Middle-England Mail readers by looking unpatriotic.

Vicar, you said "i really dont see why i should vote if i dont like the choices and dont feel informed about them". But you don't seem to want to make a scintilla of effort yourself to GET informed, and you seem amazed and sulky when people take a dim view of this.

However, when the election date is actually announced, there will be even more info available - the BBC always do a breakdown of the various parties' policies.

Oh - and OF COURSE the Lib Dems aren't going to pledge, at this moment, to back Labour or Tories in the event of a hung parliament or slim majority. They will support or not support on a bill by bill, a vote by vote basis. Same as the other parties.

Thing is, Vicar, you said at the start of this thread you had no idea about the policies etc. But, ironically, it turns out over the course of the thread that you are actually much better informed than many people who already sure which party they're voting for!
And what's more, you're actually interested to find out... in fact, you're so interested that you're looking for canvassing materials before the election's even announced, let alone the official start of campaigning!

Have you looked up your constituency on here? It should have the candidates for your area.
As I was saying on another thread, also worth googling your MP to see if they've been involved in anything particularly... interesting. And check their voting record on theyworkforyou because in the current system, your only real choice is goign to be between your sitting MP and his/her closest challenger. Often in a lesser-of-two-evils kind of way.

I agree with TheHeathenOfSuburbia that VicarInaTuTu is "actually much better informed than many people who already are sure which party they're voting for". She is very interested in it. Many people who are castigating her about her decision not to vote are far less informed than her.

I think she is expressing her annoyance at the fact that the parties are taking her vote for granted. They can't even be bothered to try and sell their policies, but expect her to turn up and vote just the same. I don't think she is the only one thinking this, millions of other voters up and down the land think exactly the same.

Oh, I left off the end of my post!

Meant to say: I think you will be getting more of a hard sell as we get closer to the actual election. As I said, (some!) parties have very limited funds and don't want to blow it all too early. Guess they think that anything they put out now will have faded to the back of your mind by May.

i find myself almost pathetically grateful that someone is getting what im saying - thanks Claig and TheHeathen,

Cat64 yet again your not reading what im posting - i am not expecting a personal visit by anyone (though if someone knocked at my door any evening i would be here - dont canvassers do that anymore?) - im saying a leaflet or something like it, to explain their pledges would have helped me decide what i was going to do. Everyone is saying i should go and find out what they are promising - why? if they want my vote then why should they not make some kind of effort? if its so important i vote why does it not seem that way to anyone who might have got my vote? my son has just turned 18. the only party who have addressed him at the tories, with a personal letter and questionnaire. there he is, fresh new shiny voter and again only one party shows any interest. thats why i cant be arsed with this so called democratic process - its a pile of pants. they do take it for granted that the majority will go and vote, and if i do it i dont really know what im voting for. if i vote lib dem i could be voting for anyone.

im not apethetic, just disillusioned and not prepared to be herded sheep like to the polls to vote for something i dont want. anyway - need to go to work again.

Won't be voting either however, 'tis only coz one knows that in ones area Mr.Cameron will have 110% of votes and one is too lazy comfortable to drag oneself out to the ballot box.

I have read through the whole thread, I think hoping that someone would give me a flash of inspiration and I would be filled with a burning desire to vote.

I can't bear the thought of not voting, it's something that's been instilled in me all my life, but my problem is that no matter how many editions of Newsnight or Question Time I watch, not matter how many papers I read or debates I listen to, I just don't feel I can believe a word that is said by any of the major parties.

I feel that a vote for a smaller party, where the candidate may have more integrity and is less likely to be corrupt is a 'wasted' vote. I just can't vote for a party that I know is highly unlikely to gain power and I think that this is why these smaller parties will struggle to get anywhere nationally as many people feel the same, even if they agree with many of their policies - I nearly had kittens last election because I was so disgusted with the Labour party that I went for the LibDems instead and then suffered sleepless nights worrying that if a enough others had done the same it might let the tories in!

I have never and will never vote Tory. Never. But I can't believe the current state of the Labour party and feel so despondent that this is what things have come to. I absolutely respect that fact that women fought and died for my right to vote and I would never forgo that right, but I wonder what the suffragettes would think of the way things have developed? I am really pleased for those that genuinely believe that their vote will influence the political process but I cannot help feeling that whoever gets in, the spin-over-substance short-termist culture will prevail. OP, I can understand your point of view completely and I fear that you are not alone.

YABVU. And a bit spoiled. At least spoil your vote, or, as another poster said, draw a rude picture on it.

YABU

If you don't vote, your actually voting for the winner.

the other thing is that all of the major parties are so very nearly the same - the last time there was a real division in the parties and what they stood for was the '83 election. that election result changed the course of history - i wonder what would have happened to the country has maggie thatcher hadnt got in - but now all the policies are quite samey - "new" labour had to become "new" (which meant more right wing,) to get voted in at the 97 election.

when you vote now - what actually changes? nothing. your just changing who is running the country but they will still run it just as it was in the previous weeks and months. very little of actual substance alters. did they listen on the war? did the previous government listen on poll tax? poll tax is a great example - all that labour did is rename it council tax and instead of your household paying a number of small bills based on the people in your house (tory policy which caused riots) you pay one whacking bill - that used to be called "rates"!! and for anyone who rents a house - the rates used to be included in your rent - so while labour changed the name of the tax and pretended to listen to the people all it was doing was shafting you further!

i would acutally rather not get counted as a voter than spoil the paper. claig made some very good points about the turnout, if i spoil the paper then i will still be counted as a voter, and the spoilt paper will do nothing, no one counts spoilt papers.