Is anyone else of the opinion that elections are generally decided by a significant number, maybe even an overall majority, of electoral idiots ? By this I mean people who have no real interest in politics, are too lazy to read
any of the manifestos and vote on the basis of any combination of the following;
- Who they've always voted for
- Who their peers / mates are voting for
- Follow the political bias of their chosen media outlet (newspaper / TV etc)
- Rejection of particular parties / leaders based on nothing more than knee-jerk hearsay prejudice (e.g. "Corbyn wants the 1970's back")
- A desire not to look stupid when discussing politics so they just regurgitate the hearsay and media outlet bias as they don't have to think at all then or risk being asked any questions that might expose their lack of knowledge.
I believe a significant number of people in the UK cast their votes on the basis of these - certainly more than enough to change the outcome of an election. This begs the question whether elections really do represent the "will of the people". I would argue that the coming election will be decided 60% on the points above and 40% on manifesto promises.
In order to make elections more accurately reflect the true will of the people, we have to either get more people to impartially read manifestos and learn how to ignore media bias and peer pressure - an almost impossible task IMO, or remove the 60% above from the polling stations - far easier but very controversial indeed. In an ideal world, I would implement a system that asked you to name three main manifesto pledges from three main parties before you would be allowed to have a ballot paper.
Is it right to deny people from voting if they aren't actually voting on what they believe in ?
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Blame the education system if you must.
I am sure an improved education would have prevented you from seeking the persecution / imprisonment / death of chavs.
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Anyone who votes thinking they understand all the factors in play is lying to themselves.
All we have to go on is second-hand information, educated guesses, rough philosophy and trust. One man's knee-jerk hearsay is another man's earnest research and all of it is filtered through our own personal agendas and a hundred past political arguments.
We're all human. We're all stupid. Standing above the rest of the world pretending you aren't feeling ignorant and uninformed might fool some people, but not everyone.
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I didn't learn a single thing about politics in school. I learned about fucking Pythagoras' Theorem, but nothing about how politics actually work. Everything I know, I had to go out and look it up or pick it up from the media or Wikipedia or something. The concept of left and right wing, the leanings of the major parties, what the shadow cabinet/house of lords/commons is, I never got taught any of that.
It doesn't have to be a major subject, just something to teach the absolute fundamentals. I left school about 15 years ago, so maybe it's different now, but I never had any formal education on what is actually pretty important in being a functioning member of society. Which is what school is supposed to form you into.
Relating to the original point though, it just meant I didn't vote at all because I didn't have a clue/didn't care.
Like pretty much everyone else, I like to think I'm fairly bright, but this politics nonsense is baffling. None of them do what they say they will, and if they did that'd be worse. None of the parties are a good enough match for my many varied and sometimes-self-contradictory positions that I feel voting for them is sensible, and logically, voting isn't worth doing - the effort involved is disproportionately larger than the influence of my one vote. I have never voted for the candidate or party that's won - and that's not something I'm exactly proud of.
The only difference is that I don't think this makes me better than everyone else. I certainly don't think I make better choices, or that I'd be better at the politics thing.
The ballot paper you ask 10 pertinent questions about politics and government and if voters don't get 7/10 their vote should be eliminated from the count.
Just playing devils advocate you understand......
Politicians are well aware of voter apathy. The EU Referendum is a prime example of politicians saying any old bollocks to snare a few votes. They've got form for not actually doing anything they promise either. You can't blame the electorate for the actions of the people they cast their votes for.
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Still, the biggest voting block, the one with the power to actually change anything, is non voters. I'm quite keen on the Australian model where voting is mandatory but they get politics classes.
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Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youSome folk will vote for who they have always voted for because of track record, core values or past achievements that mean so much then they'd have to do something atrocious to break that loyalty.
Some folk follow their peers because they are not all that interested. But who's to say where the line gets drawn on level of political interest. What if somebody said that you couldn't vote because you didn't meet THEIR standards of interest.
The media issue is the fault of the media, not the individual who is influenced. We are all influenced by media to a degree, whether you read the Star or the Independant, or watch The Wright Stuff or Bloomberg.
Knee Jerk reaction to soundbites? Again, the fault of the media for focusing on them, not the individual.
There will always be some who are less informed than others but again, where to draw the line? Do we need need to pass an interrogation before they give us our little stubby pencil? Would that really be a democracy? How do you think you'd feel if you didn't make the cut? When I hear this adea bandied about it always seems to be from people who assume they WOULD be included.
Sometimes the more factually informed people lack the compassion for those on the recieving end of their watertight, ultra logical solutions to more emotive issues.
Voting for what you actually believe in? Mmm, there will be plenty of tactical voters who aren't voting for what they actually believe in, but they have probably informed themselves well enough to do so.
The vast majority of people who don't really believe in anything don't bother voting. That's why we have such a low turnout in recent elections. I don't think many of those non voters are consciously abstaining because they don't feel that none of the candidates, after careful consideration and much research, are worthy of their vote. The majority of those are the can't be arsed/I'm not interested demographic.
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