All this Politics Jargoon

Its about that time again, Thursday is the big day, we get to change the structure of our little country.

But I'm sure most people are aware, even if it is just an inbuilt cynicism, that this isn't strictly the case, our votes no longer count as one vote per person, we are a percentage not a single entity. [Check out this website to see what percentage you actually count:www.voterpower.org.uk].

The system is flawed, politics has moved on and first past the post has evoked a sense of compromise in the form of tactical voting, a process which essentially defeats the concept of democracy. Compromise on a vote is cancer for democracy. 

I would love to say i had an idea of how to improve the system, or even that if I did have one we could some how implement change, but I am, like most of the rest of the population, overcome with the sharp sting of indifference, I am so firmly aware of my personal insignificance it is hard to muster a sense of political activism. Don't get me wrong,I am going to vote and I am going to vote for the MP I believe is best suited for the job [this rant would be entirely hypocritical otherwise, be the change you want to see and all that], but I am acutely aware that there is a lingering tension around the validity of such a decision. 

The debate rests today on the ability of a hung parliament to carry the country out of the recession. History tells us that the likely hood of this is slim, however, as much as we should learn from our past is this knowledge, taken out of context, more damaging to the present than it is advantageous? Could this fear bring about a higher stream of tactical voting than ever before, resulting eventually in higher apathy and disappointment in the long run? The state of politics, this two party system we have found ourselves in is not only outdated it is a crime against democracy. We have a multiple party system, but to be pedantic in this case I am making reference to the big three, the Lib Dems have rightly been underlined as the underdog, but today their popularity ratings, a product of the broadcasting of debates, are higher than ever. However, tactical voting seems to threaten the significance of this. Is it possible that despite their growing popularity the Lib Dems will be left in the dirt again because of the fear of a hung parliament? 

I am terrified by this prospect. I am the generation who has come of worse in the present because of government action. I am in tens of thousands of pounds of debt because of my academic career without much hope for a well paid job in the end and the increasingly slim chance of affording my own home. I am drowning in a sea of insecurity, trying to row upstream without a paddle, lost in the woods without a compass and the light at the end of the tunnel is flickering in the wind of cynicism that has enveloped politics in this country.

Happy voting!