Of course you should go to the polling station. Cast a positive vote if you can (I will be voting SDP), a negative one if there is no better choice, or spoil your ballot paper. I have done the latter on several occasions, always adding an extra comment. If you do none of the above it lets politicians off the hook. They ignore a low turnout. It's difficult to ignore millions of spoilt ballot papers.
At the moment a “spoiled ballot” is considered a protest but it has no real teeth. Though it would hang around any party’s head like an albatross negating a lot of their “mandate”.
Look at Khan. So many people didn’t vote so we’ll never know. But if all those people had voted “none” you’d have a wall of none there all the time. His win would be a technicality rather than a valid win. If you don’t play don’t complain about the outcome.
I understand the gripes about the system as a None vote should be a valid option. The trouble is what do we do when it happens. How do you form a government?
For years, the government and Parliament has resisted formally acknowledging a NOTA vote and putting it onto the ballot paper. I think we all know why.
I run into the "Just don't vote" argument regularly, and can only reply, "Silence is consent!" I'm not convinced that ballot spoiling with any form of 'not good enough, I do not consent' will work, either, because I have no reason to think that spoiled ballots are ever acknowledged, but if there is absolutely no candidate I can stand, on the ballot, what the hell. Worth a try.
If 95 out of 100 people vote for mandatory covid vaccines-that’s democracy at work. And a human rights violation. If 51 out of 100 people vote that parents should lose custody of their children for refusing the jab, that’s democracy at work. And an enormous injustice.
Not voting. Not spoiling. Not standing in line for kabuki theatre.
I will definitely vote, but not for the Con/Lab/Lib/SNP Uniparty. Living in Scotland, I have a voting perspective that people in England may not have twigged, namely how the minority SNP separatists keep winning here in Scotland because the tribalist votes for the unionist Con/Lab/Lib parties get split.
In the UK GE, it is theoretically possible to mimic what happens here if constituencies can somehow organise themselves to focus their votes on a single anti-Uniparty candidate who could then sneak through because the Con/Lab/Lib votes get split.
"the only option will be openly expressed violent rebellion."
But that's the option I'm rooting for. That or nuclear war - starting with Westminster, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Canberra, Wellington, Strasbourg, Brussels... I could go on, but that would make a good start.
I don't want "none of the above", I don't want empty seats in parliament because no one voted for anyone (not that that would ever happen with a population of gullible, tribal sheep.)
I want to see the lampposts and bridges from one end of the country to the other decorated with dancing politicians and the entire elitist scum of "civil servants", councillors, the judiciary, the police, the "academics", the trans-activists, the think-tanks, the NGOs, the public agencies, the occupants of the boardrooms of the biggest companies - the entire top echelon of this sick, twisted, evil society.
Five years ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more placid, peace-loving, positive member of society than yours truly. I volunteered at the local food bank. I collected litter as I walked and paddled along the local paths and waterways. I dutifully marked my ballot slip with a cross against the party that I thought would do the right thing for the well-being and prosperity of the country. But the last few years - for numerous reasons - have turned me into something unrecognisable to my old self.
I now truly despise these people. I'm not going to vote - of course not. At the last GE I spoiled my ballot, writing the word LIAR! against every name. I'd never dream of voting for any of the psychopathic, narcissistic shits who put themselves forward for election.
Democracy is a sham. Perhaps it might be the optimal system in different circumstances - homogenous, high trust communities united by common values - but now it merely enables the wolves to feast on the sheep, with a thin, fake, veneer of consent.
Maybe I'm a prime example of the demoralisation that has been purposely inflicted on the people. But if the aim of that demoralisation is disengagement and resigned acquiescence, that's not where it's taken me.
I'm enraged. My heart is full of hate. A scribble on a piece of paper won't change that, or anything else.
I'm praying for something far more "biblical".
Note: Please accept my apologies and delete this comment if you feel it oversteps the mark.
Absolutely not. I share your visceral rage. If that's where we're headed, then so be it. Mass murder and suffering inflicted upon us is not to be taken lightly. An eye for an eye may be the only way out, but it will come at a terrible cost to eyes.
To me the problem is that there are many opposing points of view but only one channel for their expression. Representation is logically impossible under the current system.
In other words I don't believe that any strategy (voting/not voting/spoiling) on July 4th is going to make any difference to the outcome.
We have handed over responsibility for our governance to a relatively few ordinary joes and janes who are ill-informed, incompetent, corrupt, vain, sociopathic or some combination. This has become abundantly clear from the covid and climate debacles.
That is the system we live under.
Many or even most people seem to believe that this can continue indefinitely and we are well-enough off to make it through the odd self-inflicted catastrophe.
Until such people can be convinced that this is all coming to a sticky end, then nothing will change. As the saying goes, "I went bankrupt slowly at first, then all of a sudden".
Well, it may not come to revolution! I think economic takeover by China or India is much more likely (if it hasn't happened already).
If you can persuade twenty or thirty million people to vote NOTA then you're in with a shout. It's the Post Office Horizon problem: everyone thinks they're on their own and isolated.
You've got to admit that the system is really cleverly (in a bad sense) set up: it makes voters think they're making a difference when in fact they might as well go to the beach.
Farage has also decided NOT to enhance the lacklustre appeal of Reform UK under Richard Tice by leading the party into the general election. No big deal. We could never be sure if he would stand down all his candidates at the last moment anyway!
It's worth mentioning of course that if we follow Bob's advice, then Andrew Bridgen, who has worked tirelessly to expose the evils of the last 4 years, and before that even, will likely be deprived of his voice in Parliament. Is that really what we want? Of course not! The 'system' has tried its best to cancel him - and failed. Should voters now cancel him instead? Residents in his constituency should turn out in droves and vote for Andrew on July 4th.
Yes just as Americans turned out in droves in 2020. Overwhelmingly voting for Biden??? I don’t know what the solution would be, but I sympathize with Moran.
The politicians appear to be puppets playing roles. They appear to be another layer between the people and the hidden string pullers.
The string pullers….. where do they reside? Who are their hitmen? Who is seeking the source of the insidious agendas?
That seems to me more important than playing along. Spoiling a ballot, like tearing up a parking ticket, is not a game changer by any means.
It's playing the game but not adhering to the rules. Not playing the game might work, but only if the vast majority abstain. They will still claim legitimacy of elections if only 30% of the electorate vote.
I don’t think they even care about legitimacy. The people obey anyone with a microphone on TV and a dress suit. Or a lab coat. Or freaking scrubs for that matter
Of course you should go to the polling station. Cast a positive vote if you can (I will be voting SDP), a negative one if there is no better choice, or spoil your ballot paper. I have done the latter on several occasions, always adding an extra comment. If you do none of the above it lets politicians off the hook. They ignore a low turnout. It's difficult to ignore millions of spoilt ballot papers.
Restore Magna Carta and bring back Trail By Jury.
Arrest the bankers for usury, which is illegal under MC, and fraud.
Get rid of the BoE and resort to a govt issued currency backed by the wealth of the nation. Get rid of income tax.
A new party with these as manifesto commitments would get my vote.
In the meantime it's probably NOTA but I don't who is standing yet.
At the moment a “spoiled ballot” is considered a protest but it has no real teeth. Though it would hang around any party’s head like an albatross negating a lot of their “mandate”.
Look at Khan. So many people didn’t vote so we’ll never know. But if all those people had voted “none” you’d have a wall of none there all the time. His win would be a technicality rather than a valid win. If you don’t play don’t complain about the outcome.
I understand the gripes about the system as a None vote should be a valid option. The trouble is what do we do when it happens. How do you form a government?
For years, the government and Parliament has resisted formally acknowledging a NOTA vote and putting it onto the ballot paper. I think we all know why.
I run into the "Just don't vote" argument regularly, and can only reply, "Silence is consent!" I'm not convinced that ballot spoiling with any form of 'not good enough, I do not consent' will work, either, because I have no reason to think that spoiled ballots are ever acknowledged, but if there is absolutely no candidate I can stand, on the ballot, what the hell. Worth a try.
Participating is also consent.
If 95 out of 100 people vote for mandatory covid vaccines-that’s democracy at work. And a human rights violation. If 51 out of 100 people vote that parents should lose custody of their children for refusing the jab, that’s democracy at work. And an enormous injustice.
Not voting. Not spoiling. Not standing in line for kabuki theatre.
People died to earn the right to vote, so I will always honour their memory however unpalatable the choice presented.
I will definitely vote, but not for the Con/Lab/Lib/SNP Uniparty. Living in Scotland, I have a voting perspective that people in England may not have twigged, namely how the minority SNP separatists keep winning here in Scotland because the tribalist votes for the unionist Con/Lab/Lib parties get split.
In the UK GE, it is theoretically possible to mimic what happens here if constituencies can somehow organise themselves to focus their votes on a single anti-Uniparty candidate who could then sneak through because the Con/Lab/Lib votes get split.
"the only option will be openly expressed violent rebellion."
But that's the option I'm rooting for. That or nuclear war - starting with Westminster, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Canberra, Wellington, Strasbourg, Brussels... I could go on, but that would make a good start.
I don't want "none of the above", I don't want empty seats in parliament because no one voted for anyone (not that that would ever happen with a population of gullible, tribal sheep.)
I want to see the lampposts and bridges from one end of the country to the other decorated with dancing politicians and the entire elitist scum of "civil servants", councillors, the judiciary, the police, the "academics", the trans-activists, the think-tanks, the NGOs, the public agencies, the occupants of the boardrooms of the biggest companies - the entire top echelon of this sick, twisted, evil society.
Five years ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more placid, peace-loving, positive member of society than yours truly. I volunteered at the local food bank. I collected litter as I walked and paddled along the local paths and waterways. I dutifully marked my ballot slip with a cross against the party that I thought would do the right thing for the well-being and prosperity of the country. But the last few years - for numerous reasons - have turned me into something unrecognisable to my old self.
I now truly despise these people. I'm not going to vote - of course not. At the last GE I spoiled my ballot, writing the word LIAR! against every name. I'd never dream of voting for any of the psychopathic, narcissistic shits who put themselves forward for election.
Democracy is a sham. Perhaps it might be the optimal system in different circumstances - homogenous, high trust communities united by common values - but now it merely enables the wolves to feast on the sheep, with a thin, fake, veneer of consent.
Maybe I'm a prime example of the demoralisation that has been purposely inflicted on the people. But if the aim of that demoralisation is disengagement and resigned acquiescence, that's not where it's taken me.
I'm enraged. My heart is full of hate. A scribble on a piece of paper won't change that, or anything else.
I'm praying for something far more "biblical".
Note: Please accept my apologies and delete this comment if you feel it oversteps the mark.
Absolutely not. I share your visceral rage. If that's where we're headed, then so be it. Mass murder and suffering inflicted upon us is not to be taken lightly. An eye for an eye may be the only way out, but it will come at a terrible cost to eyes.
To me the problem is that there are many opposing points of view but only one channel for their expression. Representation is logically impossible under the current system.
In other words I don't believe that any strategy (voting/not voting/spoiling) on July 4th is going to make any difference to the outcome.
We have handed over responsibility for our governance to a relatively few ordinary joes and janes who are ill-informed, incompetent, corrupt, vain, sociopathic or some combination. This has become abundantly clear from the covid and climate debacles.
That is the system we live under.
Many or even most people seem to believe that this can continue indefinitely and we are well-enough off to make it through the odd self-inflicted catastrophe.
Until such people can be convinced that this is all coming to a sticky end, then nothing will change. As the saying goes, "I went bankrupt slowly at first, then all of a sudden".
Riots it is then. But I think 'NOTA' is at least worth a try.
Well, it may not come to revolution! I think economic takeover by China or India is much more likely (if it hasn't happened already).
If you can persuade twenty or thirty million people to vote NOTA then you're in with a shout. It's the Post Office Horizon problem: everyone thinks they're on their own and isolated.
You've got to admit that the system is really cleverly (in a bad sense) set up: it makes voters think they're making a difference when in fact they might as well go to the beach.
Which is what many of them will do.
Living under the economic thumb of the Chinese Communist Party is probably more likely to spark a revolution!
Farage has also decided NOT to enhance the lacklustre appeal of Reform UK under Richard Tice by leading the party into the general election. No big deal. We could never be sure if he would stand down all his candidates at the last moment anyway!
It's worth mentioning of course that if we follow Bob's advice, then Andrew Bridgen, who has worked tirelessly to expose the evils of the last 4 years, and before that even, will likely be deprived of his voice in Parliament. Is that really what we want? Of course not! The 'system' has tried its best to cancel him - and failed. Should voters now cancel him instead? Residents in his constituency should turn out in droves and vote for Andrew on July 4th.
Yes just as Americans turned out in droves in 2020. Overwhelmingly voting for Biden??? I don’t know what the solution would be, but I sympathize with Moran.
The politicians appear to be puppets playing roles. They appear to be another layer between the people and the hidden string pullers.
The string pullers….. where do they reside? Who are their hitmen? Who is seeking the source of the insidious agendas?
That seems to me more important than playing along. Spoiling a ballot, like tearing up a parking ticket, is not a game changer by any means.
It's playing the game but not adhering to the rules. Not playing the game might work, but only if the vast majority abstain. They will still claim legitimacy of elections if only 30% of the electorate vote.
I don’t think they even care about legitimacy. The people obey anyone with a microphone on TV and a dress suit. Or a lab coat. Or freaking scrubs for that matter