Vote for me

I am sorry for my lack of wit and wisdom for a week or so now but nothing has really riled me enough to put pen to paper. But now something has, you will no doubt be pleased to know.

Is it only me...but why is it so difficult for many of us to vote?

Last week in many parts of this country we had local elections. And unless you live overseas when you read this or have been away visiting relatives on the moon, you will know by now that the Two Caesars got a bit of a bloody nose. I am however slightly baffled why people think that issues decided and determined on a national scale should influence the election of local busy bodies to local councils. Does it never occur to anyone that your councillor is not in charge of deficit reduction policies, the re-organisation of the NHS or even the tax rate for hot pasties?

This however is not my Gripe of the Week.

It was striking to me that in most parts of the country turnout for the Busy Body Elections barely got above 30%. In other words more than two thirds of those eligible to vote decided that EastEnders and Corrie was more enticing than turning out to put their X on the spot. This is absolutely shocking and a very bad thing. And this shocking figure is readily inflated by fraudulent multiple voting in some areas.

No doubt many will have sound reasons for failing to turn out. The weather, an engaging episode of Emmerdale, a sock drawer to be cleared out or some such excuse. Some might even look to blame the politicians and those local Busy Bodies aspiring to be politicians for not doing enough to engage with us, I certainly make this accusation, but these are excuses for our failure to fulfil our civic responsibilities. The effects of the electoral process are all around us and if we fail to engage then we get the politics and the democracy we deserve.

Now it might only be me but we ought to remember what others gave and did that we might vote. We are prepared to vote in record numbers for some fame wannabee on X FACTOR, Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice, or some other end of pier talent show, who will make one record and then disappear from view, than we are for people who will impact on our lives. Maybe we should resort to text voting.

From Magna Carta through the bloody Civil War to the Bill of Rights and the Suffragettes people died and fought for the right to vote. And if we look across the Pond to Uncle Sam there is plenty more evidence of people, mostly black, who fought, struggled and laid down their life that others might vote. Indeed right around the world the history of many countries is marked, often bloodily, by the struggles of people to earn the right to take part in the democratic process. Think South Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya.

And yet in this country we are put off exercising our democratic right, duty and privilege by a wee bit of rain or a better programme on TV. I would have thought that getting a wee bit damp or foregoing the latest soap shenanigans was not too much of a sacrifice to take part in the electoral process. Others after all have done far more than brave a wee drizzle to further the cause of democracy.

As you can tell I am well agitated by this.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.