There was a Poll at the start of November asking what Party you'd vote for.

Summed up the Majority voted Tory, Lib-Dem and Green, with Labour Trailing behind by 50% less than its "rivals" did.

So, the question now is:

Who would you vote for at this very moment in time?

I wonder how different the voting will be?

I don't vote, so my vote would be "none of the above" in your poll.

The reason I don't vote is because as far as I'm concerned Politicians are all as bent as each other, regardless of who gets in at the Election this year this country's still gonna be up **** creek without a paddle, excuse my french.... Especially if the Conservatives get the nod. which is unlikely but you never know.

Sorry to be so cynical at only 28, but I've just had enough of Labour and their annoyingness of saying "we will do this, that and the other for the British public" and then they turn round and do the exact chuffin' opposite!

It's like the WMD issue, Bush and Blair both knew they were never going to find anything, yet they still sent soldiers from both sides of the Pond to fight and maybe die in a pointless war.

What are we voting for? Parliament or local government? Makes a difference! To me at least.

Nomme

Originally posted by nomme
What are we voting for? Parliament or local government? Makes a difference! To me at least.

Nomme

Either really, but lets say General Election :thumbsup:

I never vote at local elections because this council are complete morons.
I vote Labour at the general and i think Tony Blair is the best leader this country has ever had and will have.
Please please don't respond to my last comment as i know i will have many critics its just i don't want to start a debate about Tony Blair on here ruining the point of why this thread is here.

I selected the vote labour option but I don't suppose that suprises many people on here. It doesn't take much searching on the different fora to understand why.

I do find it amusing that nobody has admitted to selecting anything other than labour even though there are votes for the other parties. Perhaps shame played a part.

Come on you non-labour voters how about some positive reasons for voting the way you have other than the usual 'anything to get this lot out' mantra. I've never yet seen a valid argument for voting conservative, for instance.

Originally posted by Cycleracer
I never vote at local elections because this council are complete morons.

I hate to tell you this Cycleracer but it doesn't matter which party's in power the council will still be here.

Well Max, people dont have to say who they voted for, just like the proper elections ;)

It is a secret ballot either way!
But as you asked, I voted BLUE, yes Conservative.
Why? Well im fed up of Blair him letting down students was the final straw for me.

A "Valid" reason for it would be their policies on Farming and the Euro

NB: (all)

I dont want this thread turning into a slanging match about "OMG ma party is bett0r than urz" because its childish and un-needed.

Originally posted by RPG
Well Max, people dont have to say who they voted for, just like the proper elections ;)

It is a secret ballot either way!
But as you asked, I voted BLUE, yes Conservative.
Why? Well im fed up of Blair him letting down students was the final straw for me.

A "Valid" reason for it would be their policies on Farming and the Euro

NB: (all)

I dont want this thread turning into a slanging match about "OMG ma party is bett0r than urz" because its childish and un-needed.

I merely said I found it amusing that people who selected anything other than labour were not giving their reasons.

If your only reason for starting this was to have a poll then it would be a pretty boring thread, don't you think?

PS The tories don't have a policy on the Euro other than 'we won't hold a referendum as we don't think the electorate should have a choice'. Their policies on farming are still the same as when they took us into the EEC, viz. get as much in subsidies for the rich land owners as possible.

Originally posted by max
If your only reason for starting this was to have a poll then it would be a pretty boring thread, don't you think?


Are the real polls boring then? :lol:

Don't even entertain voting at the moment - they're all beyond pathetic currently so until something changes drastically I'll just spoil my ballot paper :)

Originally posted by max
I selected the vote labour option but I don't suppose that suprises many people on here. It doesn't take much searching on the different fora to understand why.

I do find it amusing that nobody has admitted to selecting anything other than labour even though there are votes for the other parties. Perhaps shame played a part.

Come on you non-labour voters how about some positive reasons for voting the way you have other than the usual 'anything to get this lot out' mantra. I've never yet seen a valid argument for voting conservative, for instance.



I hate to tell you this Cycleracer but it doesn't matter which party's in power the council will still be here.
OK Max :)

I selected Green as my chosen candidate (forget for the moment that I am not permitted to vote in General Elections (although I have done so several times)).

The reasons I did not vote for labour in RPGs election is that the executive is out of control, and despite many things being right with the current regime, such a deep rooted flaw in their moral reasoning completely excludes them from holding public office, let alone executive power.

Worse still, the parliamentary labour party has bleated once and then rolled over for the executive on the most paper thin pretext for a war I have ever heard.

All of this despite the largest peacetime gathering of people telling him he was wrong, which it turns out he was.

The daily grind of the economy, public services, taxation and so on is being dealt with just as normal, and the party IMO deserves no castigation for that.

But if the Labour Party as a whole do not have spine enough to eject their message-obsessed realpolitikal executive then they do not deserve my (notional) vote.

The reason I did vote for the Greens is that they are the only party to directly oppose hierarchical power structures, recognising them to be inherently flawed when it comes to organising anything for the benefit of all rather than the few.

And they advocate unilateral nuclear disarmament

And the legalisation of cannabis

And a few other key policies.

But I acknowledge that their management of UK PLC may leave something to be desired, considering their lack of experience.

This could, however, be precisely the sort of fresh thinkg that is required around systems of governance.

People do not like radical 'Year Zero' solutions, but in the case of parliamentary democracy, I do not believe 'creeping reform' has any redeeming characteristsics, and that a complete root, trunk and branch reform is required.

How to achieve this is anyone's guess, but I do not for a moment accept it is beyond the realms of possibility.

I to Phan would like to see the Greens in power for the reasons you give but that will never happen so rather than waste my vote I vote Labour.
Mr Blair is not doing a bad job of it, O.K my views, but they are better than the blues anytime.

Non of the above if that ever came on a ballot paper I would go to vote.

conservative - cos labour are CRAP and none of the others are big enough to trust to run the country and that comes from someone who knows bugger all about politics but is a voter (ie the majority of people)

Don't fool yourself into thinking that the conservatives will be any better.

They have had 7 years to organise themselves into an effective opposition and have failed utterly, as well as running out of money.

If they cannot organise themselves, what hope do they have of organising the country, let alone handle the finances.

It's not the parties that are at fault, it is our sedimentary, accretive political system that is at fault, and will forever continue to churn out impotent and ossified political movements.

We could start with a unicameral, non-adversarial house with PR. That would start things up a bit, and then most people would actually be able vote for parties they actually believed in, rather than this "lesser of two evils" crap.

The danger is we end up in a political landscape like the US where we get to choose between two parties which you'd be hard pushed to slide a Rizla between.

I think party politics should be abolished and all MPs should be independent. This way MPs would actually say what they believe rather than what they're told to believe.

Originally posted by Sidla
I think party politics should be abolished and all MPs should be independent. This way MPs would actually say what they believe rather than what they're told to believe.

Ya know, that's actually not half bad of an idea... ;)

It's a shame that most find politics boring, as that's just the way that most politicians and their corporate masters like it.

What amused me was a year or so back when the news was full of a woman who verbaly attack Tory Blair as he left a hospital. The woman harrangued him with abuse over the fact that she was unhappy with the state of the NHS Trust in her area...then later admitted that she hadn't even voted in the last two elections!

Maybe you can be forgiven if you have a genuine political reason for staying at home...but otherwise, if you give up your vote because you're too lazy to walk to the polling station, then you've removed your right to object in my mind.

Originally posted by Carmine
Maybe you can be forgiven if you have a genuine political reason for staying at home...but otherwise, if you give up your vote because you're too lazy to walk to the polling station, then you've removed your right to object in my mind.


Agreed. It really annoys me that some people can put in the effort to vote in the latest Big Brother/ other reality TV crap, but when the issue of running the country comes up, they can't be bothered to even vote, despite people having died in the past to earn them this right to vote.

Surely the right not to vote is just as important?

Originally posted by Sidla
Surely the right not to vote is just as important?


Yes and as Carmine said, to which I agreed:

Originally posted by Carmine Maybe you can be forgiven if you have a genuine political reason for staying at home...but otherwise, if you give up your vote because you're too lazy to walk to the polling station, then you've removed your right to object in my mind.

That is to say theres no problem with people abstaining on political grounds, but to stay at home because they can't be bothered is, in my opinion, unacceptable, and a threat to democracy.

Having seen the Tories in action, well power anyway,action implies something positive. I wouldn't touch them with a triple length barge pole.
The Liberal Democrats I find to be a bunch of band wagon jumpers without a single original idea amongst them.
So role on the Labour Party at least it's got a leader who's got some guts.

Originally posted by bulldog D

So role on the Labour Party at least it's got a leader who's got some guts.

Absolutely - anyone who can break manifesto promises so openly and blatantly has certainly got guts (or a very large Government majority).

Originally posted by t020
Yes and as Carmine said, to which I agreed:



That is to say theres no problem with people abstaining on political grounds, but to stay at home because they can't be bothered is, in my opinion, unacceptable, and a threat to democracy.

I don't vote cos I don't care who gets in, as far as I'm concerned one Politician is as bent as the next one, so the country will still be up **** creek without a paddle regardless of who gets the nod in my opinion.

Originally posted by t020
but to stay at home because they can't be bothered is, in my opinion, unacceptable, and a threat to democracy.
I disagree. I think if people can't be arsed to vote then their opinion shouldn't count anyway (which it doesn't).

Originally posted by t020
Agreed. It really annoys me that some people can put in the effort to vote in the latest Big Brother/ other reality TV crap, but when the issue of running the country comes up, they can't be bothered to even vote, despite people having died in the past to earn them this right to vote.

Yes.

If you dont actually bother to vote, or even go to the ballot box and spoil your ballot, then you are chucking away any legitimacy in your complaints about the current government.

But you still have that right to not vote, should you choose. The only alternative is compulsory voting, the pros and cons of which have been outlined in another thread

If you don't express your opinion when it matters (i.e on the ballot paper) then why should anyone take your opinion seriously? Because if you take politics seriously, then you vote - QED.

Originally posted by Sidla
I think party politics should be abolished and all MPs should be independent. This way MPs would actually say what they believe rather than what they're told to believe.

That's all well and good but how do they go about running the country...

Well that's one of the problems with it I suppose.

I suppose I would vote Lib Dem.
The Tories economic philosophy is at odds with my own, so they're out.
Assuming Blair is still in charge at the next election my conscience will simply not allow for me to vote for someone that has completely lost touch with society and, quite frankly, his own senses, so Labour are out. In fact even if Blair wasn't in charge I wouldn't vote for them, given the way the spineless back benchers always capitulate to the whips to protect their careers rather than standing up for what they believe in.
I'll be honest, I haven't looked at the Green's economic manifesto for a number of years, but last time I did it was laughable, so I can't see myself voting for them.
Which leaves me with the Lib Dems. Now, they always strike me as a bunch of wet muppets, and I accept that in the unlikely event that they were able to form a government they would turn out to be as honest as the Tories and Labour party, but out of all the parties, their policies most closely resemble my own. Given that I feel I have to vote for someone it would be Lib Dem.