The theory of democracy is that local people elect a representative who then goes to parliament to present their views on any given subject. Of course this would be a recipe for never ending conflict and argument in which nothing would get done without compromise and some might argue that preventing politicians from doing anything might be a good thing. Life goes on quite well without them when they go off on their long recess.
The point though, is that they are supposed to represent the views if their constituents but instead, the view of their party takes president. Our supposed representatives toe the party line and even if they object to something on our behalf, are then whipped into submission.
The second problem is that one party will, in the majority of cases, vote against any proposal made by the other party, simply because it is the other party’s proposal. They will also support any proposal made by their own party for the same reason. It is irrelevant whether that proposal is good or bad, beneficial or not, the party argument takes president.
Party politics is therefore, not only the enemy of democracy, but also the enemy of good governance. Any proposal by the opposite party will be decried, opposed, challenged and even lies told because the truth doesn’t matter, but it is the fault of those who vote for the party they voted for last time, or their parents voted for, or they feel it’s the way they should vote because of their ‘class’, which is the biggest cop out of all.
Those who don’t vote abdicate all responsibility so loose any right to complain, but perhaps they do so because they feel this way about party politics, which is again a cop out because there is a solution.
Vote Independent. Vote for an independent candidate, someone with no party affiliation. Someone who is free to judge each issue on its merits. Someone who is free to represent the views of the people that elected them. If all those who didn’t vote in the last election, which seems to be the majority, voted independent, it would shake up and wake up the present bunch of self-serving party affiliated ******* which I think everyone will agree, would be a good thing.
