A few months ago I had a small disagreement with someone whose blog I really like and respect (http://jjbeazley.blogspot.com/ ) about voting. I was decrying people who don't vote, and I think (as far as I can remember - it was a while ago) he told me to wait until I was older and I might feel differently. He said that he doesn't vote because he felt there wasn't anyone worth voting for. Well, I think I understand a bit of where he was coming from. I am losing my faith in politics and it scares me. What if I get to 18 - only 10 months away - and I don't want to vote for anyone because each political party is as downright awful as the next.
I can't, I can't, I can't bring myself to imagine voting Labour. I may agree with some things they say but others are so contradictory to my views that I know I would not be able to vote for them with my conscience in tact. I don't and I don't think I'll ever support Trade Unions, for example, and so to vote for a party with such a link to them feels against my better principles. And it was partly them who put the country into the dire economic straights it is in now, and has meant the present government have to make such awful cuts now.
I have always thought I'd vote Conservative, but suddenly I feel let down by them. I don't give a fuck what David Cameron might say - he's squeezing the middle in all the places where it will hurt me and my family most. I feel betrayed by the decisions they are inevitably going to make about University - they are short sighted and mad. I don't like that they are investing more money into science and maths and are bringing the arts and humanities to their knees. As Benedict Cumberbatch said at the rally/conference thing to save the Arts Council - the NHS saves lives but it's the arts that enrich them. The government actually put more money into the arts during the war because they understood the importance of culture in dark times. And I think the Academy scheme is fucking ridiculous - my awful Grammar school is going to be the first in my county. All they will do is marginalise the humanities and continue with the elitism among science students. A little part of me wonders, too, whether private school boys who have grown up in a privileged little bubble can really understand the problems facing me?
And, Jesus. Don't even get me started on the Lib Dem's. Principles? Standards? Shame? Do they have any? I think it's clear what the answer to that is.
I'm sorry. This is not coherent and I've sworn too much. And I'm sorry if I misquoted you, JJ Beazley.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thank you for your kind words, Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I was a Tory at your age too, until I went to BRNC, Dartmouth and rubbed shoulders with a few die-hards and came to despise everything Toryism stood for. I also moved away from the influence of my Tory stepfather at the same time.
I’d be interested to know why you have such a strong objection to trades unions. Is this a learned response or a product of original thought? I suspect that Jesus and Shakespeare, for example, would have been very much in favour of them.
It's definately not a learned response - my Mum was an 80's striker with an oil can and carrot soup, and the number of arguments we've had about this subject are countless. I think that for me it's more something that I can't get my head around - I don't understand why, when you're at a threat of losing your job/getting a paycut, you would stop working all together. I think it's completely contradictary. I also hate the idea of being under the thrall of a Union. I know a BA worker who has privately told us that when they were voting about the strike she suffered intimidation from other members of the union to vote in favour of strike action. I would hate to feel like I would ever be called upon to participate in something I don't agree with, just because some Arthur Scargill wannabe is telling me that we all have to. I would hate to live in a country like France where they cannot move for Union action and striking. I don't think it makes for a productive country or workforce.
ReplyDeleteWow, I've missed online debates such as this being away from the blogosphere for so long...
ReplyDeleteJust logged in to see what was going on and really should come back more permanently.
Where are you though Charlotte? Not posted since October?
If I were to put my two pence in on this subject it might take rather a while... so I'll leave it. I like to call myself a capitalist philanthropist - which most see as an oxymoron but I see as a perfect balance.
Hope you are both well.