Why Don't We Vote?

I partly, but not wholly agree with Elaine Morgan, who recently wrote an article in Wales Online.

“We’re quick to blame politicians, but aren’t we part of the problem?”

The way to change the situation is to change the political landscape, and then the problem with dissolve. Large parts of the electorate feel disenfranchised.

Power is in the hands of the few, with not enough power at the grass root level, and that must change. But to blame the electorate is a bit rich; this is where I disagree with Ms. Morgan. There is apathy towards our politics in this country, granted, because the ordinary citizen feels un-empowered.

Over the last few days, the number of people who told me they didn’t vote outnumbers the ones who did, five to one. When I asked why, most said very much the same thing.

“Politicians are corrupt, one or the other, they’re all the same, and only in it for themselves, couldn’t care a hoot for us, so why should I vote?”

We need a radical change in our Constitution, tinkering with an outdated system will get us nowhere. The Prime Minister should be elected directly by the people, the House of Lords should all be elected and have joint, equal power with the House of Commons. Our voting system needs to revolutionize radically, trust must come back into the system.

It’s wrong when a candidate, who gets less than 20% of the overall vote wins the seat, whereby most of the voting electorate voted against the candidate in aggregate. There should be a fixed election date, and it should not be down to the Prime Minister to make the decision.

We have lost trust in the present system and until that is restored nothing will change, the European Elections had a very low turnout, the local elections in England were equally as bad, labour loosing badly, which was to be expected given what has happened with this government. The population is angry.

We need to hold our politicians to account, and not let them run away from us as soon as they are elected. Gordon Brown, from what Caroline Flynn has said, runs an oligarchic Cabinet. We elect our MP to work for us, not for them to be told how to vote, with threatened expulsion by the Whip if they don’t comply.

Look at what the Europe Minister Caroline Flint had to say, accusing the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, of using women as "female window-dressing" in his government, and quit her post in the Lords last Friday to be replaced by Glenys Kinnock, with the electorate having no say in the appointment. These people should be elected to the Lords, by the people, and it should be outside the gift of the Prime Minister, and they should only be there (if at all) as advisers to the elected representatives, which we, the people, elect. Not there unelected, to follow the whim of the Government.

Democracy must to be given back to the people. We, the electorate must feel our vote will make a difference. As it is at present, we feel ostracised from the political system in this country, and that must change, and MP’s must become more accountable to the people who elect them in the first place.