There's going to be an election soon, and at 26 I still have no more idea who to vote for than I did at 18. It's bewildering really, trying to access and understand the British political system. I was raised in a fairly middle-class home, did well at school, and am not particularly un-intelligent, but the political parties and what they truly stand for remain a complete mystery to me, a fabric of spin, utterly meaningless promises, ambiguous stances on real issues, and mud slinging.
I took an online test which gives you a pile of questions and then gives you a picture of where on the left-right fascist-anarchist scale you lie. I was fairly amused to find myself closest to the Green Party. "Legalize da 'erb man."
I've spent quite a lot of time studying and researching the various parties, and still being totally lost with it all, have come up with a theory. I think it is quite possible that the main political parties have an 'understanding' where they keep the politics in a language and format only accessible to the upper-middle and upper classes and the aristocracy - ie those over whom they have the most influence. A huge number of the working class don't vote, and neither do a considerable number of the middle class in this country. I think it is quite possible that this is exactly as the government wants it - keep any revolutionist thinking at bay by keeping the majority of voters and those you cannot influence held down with the illusion of being powerless. So many people are totally disillusioned with the thought that their vote makes a difference, and so don't vote. So many people can't understand what the difference is between the conservatives and labour, so they don't vote. I heard a guy in the pub the other day say he was going to vote for the BNP 'because they're the only ones who stand for anything, and there's no real difference between any of the other parties'.
All politicians need to do is make the illusion of encouraging people to vote, by putting up posters here and there, and perhaps saying 'everyone should vote' on the odd TV interview, and then they can seemingly carry on speaking a foreign language in parliament and having an unhealthy amount of influence over those demographics of society most likely to vote.
Don't get me wrong, I love my country, having traveled a lot and lived in other countries I have experienced lots of different cultures within western society, and still love my home country England the best. I think the NHS, University Funding, and foreign policy are outstanding in this country and on a global scale I'm not advocating anarchy, but Id much rather be closer to anarchy than fascism.
Living in the US, in Texas, I had a very different experience of politics. In Texas, people are very often raised to accept a political persuasion on a par with (and intertwined with) the religion they are raised with. To disagree with the party you were raised to support is to betray your American identity. If you're a Texan, you're a Christian, a Republican, a Gun Owner, and (in comparison to the rest of the world) a fanatical patriot. The above should never be questioned or (God forbid) disagreed with, because that would be un-American, and make you a Judas.
So, because they are raised with a religious devotion to their identity, they will often blindly accept what someone as indisputably wise as George W Bush says, as if it were gospel truth. Particularly insane examples of this are - denying global warming is actually happening, the frequent assertion that America is the greatest nation in the world, and a very current one - violently opposing free health care.
Today on the news it is showing that free health care has been pushed through in the States finally by Obama, and also John McCain is saying this decision will come back around to bite him in November, and that there will be a very heavy price to pay for this. I personally don't think so. In the UK, when the NHS was founded there was loads of controversy, but it is now looked back on by all political parties as one of the greatest achievements in British governmental history. I am sure that this will be the case in the states too, and I look forwards to gloating about it and being a cocky Brit to my Texan buddies.
I hope the political future for whichever country I happen to live in is one somewhere between the blind sheep of Texas and the dispirited poor in England. And my personal preference is for something closer to socialism - 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need'.
I took an online test which gives you a pile of questions and then gives you a picture of where on the left-right fascist-anarchist scale you lie. I was fairly amused to find myself closest to the Green Party. "Legalize da 'erb man."
I've spent quite a lot of time studying and researching the various parties, and still being totally lost with it all, have come up with a theory. I think it is quite possible that the main political parties have an 'understanding' where they keep the politics in a language and format only accessible to the upper-middle and upper classes and the aristocracy - ie those over whom they have the most influence. A huge number of the working class don't vote, and neither do a considerable number of the middle class in this country. I think it is quite possible that this is exactly as the government wants it - keep any revolutionist thinking at bay by keeping the majority of voters and those you cannot influence held down with the illusion of being powerless. So many people are totally disillusioned with the thought that their vote makes a difference, and so don't vote. So many people can't understand what the difference is between the conservatives and labour, so they don't vote. I heard a guy in the pub the other day say he was going to vote for the BNP 'because they're the only ones who stand for anything, and there's no real difference between any of the other parties'.
All politicians need to do is make the illusion of encouraging people to vote, by putting up posters here and there, and perhaps saying 'everyone should vote' on the odd TV interview, and then they can seemingly carry on speaking a foreign language in parliament and having an unhealthy amount of influence over those demographics of society most likely to vote.
Don't get me wrong, I love my country, having traveled a lot and lived in other countries I have experienced lots of different cultures within western society, and still love my home country England the best. I think the NHS, University Funding, and foreign policy are outstanding in this country and on a global scale I'm not advocating anarchy, but Id much rather be closer to anarchy than fascism.
Living in the US, in Texas, I had a very different experience of politics. In Texas, people are very often raised to accept a political persuasion on a par with (and intertwined with) the religion they are raised with. To disagree with the party you were raised to support is to betray your American identity. If you're a Texan, you're a Christian, a Republican, a Gun Owner, and (in comparison to the rest of the world) a fanatical patriot. The above should never be questioned or (God forbid) disagreed with, because that would be un-American, and make you a Judas.
So, because they are raised with a religious devotion to their identity, they will often blindly accept what someone as indisputably wise as George W Bush says, as if it were gospel truth. Particularly insane examples of this are - denying global warming is actually happening, the frequent assertion that America is the greatest nation in the world, and a very current one - violently opposing free health care.
Today on the news it is showing that free health care has been pushed through in the States finally by Obama, and also John McCain is saying this decision will come back around to bite him in November, and that there will be a very heavy price to pay for this. I personally don't think so. In the UK, when the NHS was founded there was loads of controversy, but it is now looked back on by all political parties as one of the greatest achievements in British governmental history. I am sure that this will be the case in the states too, and I look forwards to gloating about it and being a cocky Brit to my Texan buddies.
I hope the political future for whichever country I happen to live in is one somewhere between the blind sheep of Texas and the dispirited poor in England. And my personal preference is for something closer to socialism - 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need'.
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