Nick Griffin is now an MEP even though he won fewer votes than he did five years ago. What can I say? I go on holiday for a few days, and when I’ve come back, this has happened. Can’t I trust you to look after anything when I’m away?
Although I do not live in Yorkshire or Humber, I suppose - in the fallout - I should also take my share of responsibility. I too was under the spell of voter apathy. I too saw the catchphrase “If you don’t vote, you’re not allowed to moan” as a challenge rather than a rallying call. A few days ago it just seemed a flimsy cliché. Anyone who has had to share a car journey with some squat-faced winging children will tell you that trying to shut them up on the grounds they ‘don’t vote’ and therefore have no right to moan is not a sustainable course of action. But now I realise what an idiot I’ve been. Turns out the cliches were right all along. I chose not to participate, and now the votes are in I have no right to moan.
There were also people telling me I should partake in the democratic process because “heroes died so I could vote”. I did not take kindly to the emotional blackmail element. I didn’t like the way that it was implied by not voting, I was somehow openly pissing over the graves of victims who had lay down their lives. After all, they fought for the democratic process, didn’t they? So surely they fought for my OPTION to vote, not for the vote itself? A stunt man once came to a tragic and untimely end on Noel’s House Party when his trick went horribly wrong. And although he died whilst trying to entertain the public, surely it doesn’t forever oblige us to watch Saturday evening light entertainment programmes in the name of respect, does it? I figured there are many reasons to vote, but guilt shouldn’t be one of them.
Here we are a few days later. I have a heavy heart, and am truly ashamed of myself. Once again I had missed the point completely. It was no protest not to attend the polling booths, just stupid short-sightedness. Yes - so the mainstream parties seem in most part a disappointing assortment of incompetent, back-biting, nauseating, self-serving, chortling Sebastians. Ok, so voting would have been like opening a packet of already-bland “Salt n Shake” crisps, to find the little blue bag of salt missing. But with the benefit of hindsight, every smart-arse little reason or argument I used to justify NOT casting a vote has now broken down. Essentially, we cannot allow our apathy or disillusionment be preyed upon by extreme bigots. The stakes are just too high.
If you were an abstainer like me, then I hope you also use this election as a warning of what sinister ideals can grow and fester when the majority sit back and watch (as if the whole Hitler thing wasn’t quite enough). We are not using our apathy for protest as much as we are having our laziness capitalised on by more dubious political causes. For God’s sake, let’s see this as a lesson learned. And please – let’s remember it in time for the general election.
