It's kind of a joke -- the "No offence" bit. Only kind of, though.
I don't actually want to offend anyone, though I would quite like it if they realised how offensive and insulting and narrow-minded are their own rants on the subject.
I would say that I think it's your civic duty to vote, but by that I mean something like:
I think it's your civic duty to think about this issue, and make a deliberate decision to do whatever you think is appropriate. Appropriate courses of action may be spoiling your paper, not voting at all, or standing for parliament yourself.
So I don't think that not voting is a bad thing, unless it's done due to apathy or lack of interest in the whole process.
I'm surprised that you're not voting, though - the letter you posted here a week or two back to one of your prospective candidates sounded like you were planning to. Were you planning to vote only if her response was exactly what you wanted, or has something else changed your mind in the interim ?
I would have been willing to vote for her if she'd been willing to make some kind of pledge on the digital rights issue -- because I would have regarded that as my duty, not as a good citizen, but as an honourable human being (since I'd agreed to vote for her if that occurred). She wasn't.
I occasionally get optimistic, thinking that a brand new MP might not yet be fully corrupted by the system. If I offer something as part of a deal, while in optimism-mode, it'd be churlish and dishonourable to later renege on the deal just because I'm feeling more realistic about politics.
I talked it over with Bridie (who, incidentally, is voting) this morning, though, and came to the conclusions in my entry, above. I particularly hate the party whip system; it's not even like we vote for an individual, with their own opinions. We just vote for The Party; MPs who are willing to defy the whip and vote with their conscience are few and far between.
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I don't actually want to offend anyone, though I would quite like it if they realised how offensive and insulting and narrow-minded are their own rants on the subject.
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I think it's your civic duty to think about this issue, and make a deliberate decision to do whatever you think is appropriate. Appropriate courses of action may be spoiling your paper, not voting at all, or standing for parliament yourself.
So I don't think that not voting is a bad thing, unless it's done due to apathy or lack of interest in the whole process.
I'm surprised that you're not voting, though - the letter you posted here a week or two back to one of your prospective candidates sounded like you were planning to. Were you planning to vote only if her response was exactly what you wanted, or has something else changed your mind in the interim ?
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(Does that sound antagonistic ? it isn't meant to, I'm just curious.)
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I occasionally get optimistic, thinking that a brand new MP might not yet be fully corrupted by the system. If I offer something as part of a deal, while in optimism-mode, it'd be churlish and dishonourable to later renege on the deal just because I'm feeling more realistic about politics.
I talked it over with Bridie (who, incidentally, is voting) this morning, though, and came to the conclusions in my entry, above. I particularly hate the party whip system; it's not even like we vote for an individual, with their own opinions. We just vote for The Party; MPs who are willing to defy the whip and vote with their conscience are few and far between.
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(Seriously, voting on a Thursday? I thought only the Americans did that.)
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See, when we look at the US, we say that makes voting difficult, especially for the poor. Is it different there?
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If you can't tell your friends to fuck off when you disagree with them, what's the point?
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