Political Apathy

Yesterday the national parties lunched their campaigns for the coming local elections. With the number of people turning out so low it a wonder why they bother to do it nationally at all. While the Government is making local politics more important the general disinterest remains amazing low.

Political Apathy is one of the big issues that affect Politics in the United Kingdom. People just don't care what Governments do at a local, regional or national level. There is this feeling that it doesn't matter what I think, the politicians won't listen. The truth is by taking an active interest in politics you can change the country for the good and you can get your views heard.

If you write to your Member of Parliament then they have to at least listen and in most case you will get a reply. In general the same is true of Councillors, although this is not always the case, with some of them doing the job just fuel their own egos. If you have a councillor like that and you vote you at least have a chance of getting rid of them, but not if you don't vote.

There is a famous quote by one of the greatest minds that has ever lived that is as follows:

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything" - Albert Einstein

It is a quote that everyone that says they are politically apathetic would do well to think about. For it is the lack of interest in politics that causes allows the evils in this world to gain power. It is complacency, disinterest and apathy that are destroyers of the free world.

I know it is not just the people not voting that are to blame for the political apathy in the United Kingdom, some of the blame falls squarely on the politicians who fail to engage with people for a number of reasons. Looking at general elections there are a number of reasons the stand out about why people don't vote. The most common reason is that some people live in safe seats where one party has won year after year so voting for a opposing party makes no difference. Others include, that people feel it makes no difference as all the parties are basically the same, other feel that the political parties aren't interested in their views or needs, while finally there are those feel that the parties don't work to get peoples votes. These are all issues the politicians need to address and full researched.

Some argue that the people that don't vote are making a statement of about what they think of the political system and the choices they have been given, and this is a valid point. The problem is with this idea is how do you sort out those making a statement from those that just don't care. I know recently I was faced with a choice of two candidates neither of which supported my views, but it didn't stop me voting. All I did was to register my unhappiness in the only way you can by spoiling the ballot paper. At least by doing that I made a clear statement as did other voters in the ward, since then I have tried to get my views known.

There are a number of options if someone doesn't like what the parties stand for or feel they are being listened too. One thing they can do is stand in an election either nationally or locally, the other is to form pressure groups, again these can be national or local. The thing is people can always do something as long as they actually do something rather than doing noting and then complaining that politics isn't relevant. The thing is we all have views and we all have a vote and rights, if we don't use them then your voice will never be heard.

Clearly this is a complex subject and there are lots of issues. Maybe, I have strong views on this. I believe that everyones vote matters, and that people that don't vote are just saying they don't care about the future of there local area, their nation and the future of the country their children have to live in. There has to be a deal however to get people to vote, those in power have to stop lying, they have to be fair and they have to listen and actively win our votes.