Election Season!

[Calin Leafshade]

So the British general election is upon us and I thought I'd take this opportunity to say "VOTE LIB DEM!"

That is all...

oh also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/clegg-media-elite-murdoch-lib-dem is yet another good reason why you should "VOTE LIB DEM!"

[Radiant]

You mean I can vote there? Wow!

[LimpingFish]

Ah, the Lib Dems...The lesser of three evils.

I suppose I would vote Lib Dem. If I was British.

Which I'm not.

...

[Calin Leafshade]

The lib dems do have strong policies to favour bald mice.

Namely the commission of tiny little coats.

[Mr Flibble]

As a citizen of Northern Ireland, I may either vote for the Conservatives, or a local party who can't go to Westminster.

Yay, democracy.

[Ali]

So the British general election is upon us and I thought I'd take this opportunity to say "VOTE LIB DEM!"

That is all...

I agree. Vince Cable is our Obama.

Admittedly he's better at sums than basketball and he's white, balding and northern, and he's not the Lib Dem leader... but he's Britain's key politician people don't hate and if he asked me I would give him my shoes.

[Stupot]

Unless I can brush up on my politics between now and then, I'm probably not going to vote... truth is, I don't really feel that strongly about any particular party and I don't really follow politics enough to make an informed opinion.  People always say 'everyone should vote', but mine would be an ignorant vote, and I think that could do more harm than good... most people who go to the polls do so with opinions based on the poster campaigns and tabloid headlines... I'd rather not be one of those people.

[Ali]

You can't avoid politics. Choosing not to vote is political decision favouring the groups who hold sway over the media, the economy and our political system. Watching the TV debates at least will only take a few hours of your life...

[Calin Leafshade]

Or just vote lib dem.

And if a reporter gets you and asks you why just say you really like yellow.

[markbilly]

This Lib Dem thing is getting a bit silly.

I suggest people watch some Labour events properly, you will find plenty of well researched policy and none of this vacuous "vote for change" to which I say "change to what?" that the Conservatives are so guilty of and that, with their new found support, the Lib Dems are succumbing to...

Also, incredibly surprised no one has pointed out that "conservative" means "anti-change" yet - at least the last time I looked at an English Dictionary.

[m0ds]

Vote Liberal Conservalabour.

Cameron is a very honest guy but I just don't like some of his policies. Lib dems have put up a strong debate but they have background policies usually which are goblydegook. But I'm willing to listen further. Labour - if they just had a decent leader I would probably vote for them. I actually like a lot of Labour policies but just have lost credibility for GB. There doesn't seem to be a fresh, willing face in Labour as it stands. We definitely need a NEW person in place, but I don't like the "vote for change" tagline. You can't just rip off the Obama angle and expect it to work here with everyone. But I do respect giving another party the chance to tipple the balance of Labour and see where they can lead us.

Some people won't discuss who they're voting which is fine, but I do - at the end of the day to me all it is we're really doing is giving some group the ability to run our lives for us so we can just sit back and do stuff, & pay them. I'll probably vote Lib Dem. It's one step closer to anarchy and a country free of government : That said, it could be one step closer to getting the scum off our streets - which is far better! Then again no, you'd need conservatives for that. Gah, bloody politics.

[Stupot]

Choosing not to vote is political decision favouring the groups who hold sway over the media, the economy and our political system.

In what way?

Watching the TV debates at least will only take a few hours of your life...

Yeah, I watched the first one, and will probably catch the others out of curiosity, but it's not enough to base a political allegeance on.  They all say some stuff I agree with and some stuff I don't so much.  I don't really conform to a particular '-ism' or wing, so short of sifting through the manifestos and making lists of pros and cons (which I dont have time for at the moment) theres not a lot a can do right now but waive my right to vote and trust that at least some of those who do vote know what they're talking about.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Not participating in the election of future leaders of your country is, at the bare minimum, morally lazy and, at worst, just plain stupid.  Sooner or later you'll be one of those people lamenting the bad choices 'other people' made in electing officials you find corrupt, meanwhile you put exactly 0 effort into affecting the outcome and have no right to criticize.  Basically, now more than ever you need to be informed about the true motivations of would-be elected officials and do your damndest to make sure they aren't going to drive your country farther into the shitter, farther away from personal freedoms and civil liberties, and closer to socio-fascism.  That is your duty as a citizen of whatever country you occupy and not to embrace that duty just makes you look rather grey and dead to other people who are conscientious and trying to better lives by making informed decisions.

In short: voting is not pointless, it's not worthless, but it is your only means of exercising your individual liberty to elect/depose officials who will be deciding your fate thereafter.  Taking advantage of it is a privilege, not a hassle.

This party political broadcast brought to you by the people who want people to make informed, rational voting decisions and to participate in electing the future leaders of their nations.

That said, I'm not precisely sure if 'Lib Dem' translates 100% to Liberal Democrat in the American sense, but if it does I would never ever ever ever ever recommend that route to anyone believing in individual freedoms and civil liberties.  History has shown time and again that Democrats (and especially liberal Democrats) are quite happy and pleased with themselves when they pass legislation that trades personal freedoms for what they deem the greater good.  This is a morally disingenuous position because only the people should decide what 'greater good' means by way of vote, not forced into a mandate by people who are no longer representing their constituents (this is where I point at Obama and the Democratic so-called leadership and call Shenanigans at their dismissal of the multiple popular polls against the healthcare bill).  Whether or not you agree with the concept of socialized medicine is irrelevant in the greater argument of whether or not the people wanted it.  The point I'm making is that, when you take no action, men and women who only listen to special interests and themselves get elected and they do NOT represent you.  

So get out there and vote, kids.  Win one for the Gipper!

[Calin Leafshade]

I agree with everything progz said... except the part about them damned democrats taking away our rights.

The political spectrum is far more narrow in the UK than the US and everyone kinda mills around the centre right which makes it far less of an ideological choice and more of a choice of specific policies and the lib dem policies make sense.

In fact its arguable that the conservatives are no more conservative than Labour, possibly less so on certain issues. Cameron describes himself as a "liberal conservative" which seems to be relatively true. He has recently begun to support gay rights for instance, albeit in a rather wet fashion. Compared to what an American would consider conservative, Cameron might as well be flying Lenin's flag.

However there are several things that I think should push you towards voting Lib Dem:

- Introduction of a UK constitution which means certain laws and practices can be struck down as unconstitutional. This especially applies to human rights issues such as the recent Digital Economy bill. Currently human rights issues would generally need to be taken the european court of human rights.. which takes a while.
- Electoral reform. Currently the electoral system in the UK is frankly broken and they plan to reform it.
- An elected House of Lords. This is an excellent idea since, currently the laws our elected politians put forward can be thrown out by unelected ones.. how is that democracy?
- Scrapping of tuition fees for student's first degree

An interesting point about Nick Clegg is that he is an open atheist. Imagine that in the US...

[Ali]

And they opposed the war in Iraq.

Choosing not to vote is political decision favouring the groups who hold sway over the media, the economy and our political system.

In what way?

Because the election will still happen if a tiny minority will turn out to vote. And there will still be a new government, even if the majority of people don't want to see them in power.

I agree with ProgZ's answer to your question, really, though as a stinkin' leftie I completely disagree with his politics.

[Anian]

That said, I'm not precisely sure if 'Lib Dem' translates 100% to Liberal Democrat in the American sense, but if it does I would never ever ever ever ever recommend that route to anyone believing in individual freedoms and civil liberties.  History has shown time and again that Democrats (and especially liberal Democrats) are quite happy and pleased with themselves when they pass legislation that trades personal freedoms for what they deem the greater good.  This is a morally disingenuous position because only the people should decide what 'greater good' means by way of vote, not forced into a mandate by people who are no longer representing their constituents (this is where I point at Obama and the Democratic so-called leadership and call Shenanigans at their dismissal of the multiple popular polls against the healthcare bill).  Whether or not you agree with the concept of socialized medicine is irrelevant in the greater argument of whether or not the people wanted it.  The point I'm making is that, when you take no action, men and women who only listen to special interests and themselves get elected and they do NOT represent you.  

Not sure if that healthcare bill is perfect, actually I'm sure it's not. Still I can't believe you'd say that about "forced greater good". Didn't the Republicans do something along the lines "we can hold you in interogation without cause as long as we want", tapping phone lines and similar. Yes, taking away your constitutional freedom is ok, but giving you an option (as in choose if you want social healthcare or go with private) to provide healthcare for ie your sick child, even if you don't have a job, well that's just pure evil.  :

USA are so far away from real democracy as you can get, nothing really is directly influenced by your vote - points are awards by states and if you'd ignore that, there is still the fact that you're choice is extremly limited (only 2 main parties, 1 candidate per party etc.). My country is f-ed up so much we have more voters in total than we have actual residents, but we still have about 10 or more parties/candidates to vote for in elections.

Oh, and lets not forget those polls, if the people who are for it are the same as the ones who protested - like carrying an automatic f-in rifle to a rally!? There is no room for arguments and logical disscusion with a man who carries a rifle to a protest for a freakin' healthcare bill!

@Stupot: (note: this is a limited comparisson) saying you're not "into" politics is like deciding you're not into money. Yes, you can ignore it and relativly not use it, but it won't stop it for controlling your life in one way or another.

And remember: with great power, comes great responsibility!   

[Stupot]

If I felt I did know more about the leaders' true motivations, then I would vote without a doubt.  And I will try to brush up between now and May 6th.  But come that day, I'm not going anywhere near a polling station unless I think I know what I'm talking about.  Voting isn't a duty, it's a right.  Surely my duty is to make the best decision I can with the knowlegde I've got, and I beleive people who are not well-informed should stay the hell away from the ballot box.

So many people see to have some kind of Lib Dem Fever at the moment.  Fair play, some, like Calin, have made that decision because he's read up on the policies and decided that is the best option for what he believes in and what he wants.  Others, and a large proportion of them, have done so for no other reason because he "pwnd" in the televised debate, and because the tabloids seem to like him.

If I choose not to vote, it won't be because I'm lazy "morally lazy" or "just plain stupid".  I won't even be wasting my vote in the same way as the people who can't be arsed to go to the polling booth. Hell, if they had an extra box on the ballot paper marked 'Sorry, I'm too ill-read to make an informed allegeance', then I would make the trip to the polls for it, if only to add my number to the turn-out figures, which are always very low in this country.

[SSH]

 History has shown time and again that Democrats (and especially liberal Democrats) are quite happy and pleased with themselves when they pass legislation that trades personal freedoms for what they deem the greater good.  

This is where our libdems are different... they have never passed ANY legislation! 

[Questionable]

If I was British I would probably vote LibDem...

or whoever has the silliest accent...

[Technocrat]

Libdems in the UK aren't the same idea as in the USA. In fact, the notions of "Political Liberal" in the USA and UK are different, the former based on more classical notions of liberalism espoused by Locke and Hobbes. It's liberalism of "less powerful government", rather than the american liberalism of "socially liberal policy".

Anyhow enough of that boring bit. I'm voting yellow, partly because I want to help effect a significant change in the political landscape, partly because they're the ones with their heads the least in their arses about data and internet policy, and partly because I'm a big big fan of proportional representation.

Incidentally, in about five years, I intend to run for parliament in my area. Anyone in North Dorset and Poole, I'm your future MP! (he wishes)