Once again it's so easy in life to moan and grumble about our politicians and government. No one is ever happy regardless of the party in power and we seem to be obsessed with having public enquiries so we can point the finger all the time.
I often ask people 'So how did you vote last time?' and more often than not the answer that comes back is 'Oh I didn't bother" for reason XYZ. I'm always amazed at this. "YOU DIDN'T BOTHER? " I want to shout, "ARE YOU STUPID?" We should always bother, we should always make the effort to have our voice heard, if not how dare we complain? Cant get to the voting station? Get a postal vote. Cant fill out a the voting form? Get a proxy vote. But just for once, every few years, take some responsibility in making your voice heard, remember we are lucky if we get a turn out of 30% in this country usually. Pathetic.
I say this because my husband is standing for the council in our local elections, he is also disabled. I have spent days stuffing envelopes, writing addresses, driving him round to put leaflets through doors. It doesn't matter if he wins or not this time, what matters is that a disabled person is trying to get a different voice heard, a different agenda, one that could maybe just improve things for many people. It is only by getting the 'disabled voice' heard that we can achieve change both for the physical world we live in, but also in peoples thoughts and expectations. We all have the power within us to take a step forward, to be counted. I will remind you of the words of John F Kennedy
Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.
Totally with you. If you don't vote, you can't very well complain when things are not as they should be. Of course, people must be allowed to abstain, but there's a difference between feeling genuinely unable to cast a a vote and simply not bothering - which I fear is more often than not the case.
ReplyDeleteI would argue for compulsory voting, with a box to tick fo abstention. It was amazing when Iraq held it's first post-war elections (post-war in the broadest sense of the term) and they managed the same turnout as we had at our last election - except they had to risk being shot or blown-up at the polling stations.