So how am I going to vote?
Well it's not going to be easy, even though my constituency is relatively straightforward, with only the four main parties in contention. I suppose that my natural inclination would be to vote Labour and there is no doubt that Mr Malcolm Chisholm is a decent bloke (at least for a politician). But the thought of another four years of Mr McConnell is kind of off-putting. I cannot bring myself to vote SNP (despite an eminently worthy candidate in Mr Davie Hutchison) or Conservative - hey it's a cultural thing (or a blatant prejudice). The LibDems are neither one thing nor another and I have a philosophical objection to the fact that despite being losers they always seem to find themselves in possession of the Ministerial Mondeos. So I guess I will do what I always do - spoil my ballot paper. I know, I know, it's a wasted vote - but if more of us wasted our votes the parties might get the message.
As for the regional list, I think it will be a toss-up between the Greens and the blessed Margo. I have yet to decide.
I have not even begun to think about the council vote, so I will probably decide who gets the 1, 2, 3, 4, etc in the polling booth.
What strikes me about the above is how little policies matter when deciding how to vote. We do it on the basis of a mixture of prejudice, inclination and whether the candidate seems to be a reasonable sort. Perhaps there are some of us whose vote is determined by policy on local income tax or by education, education, education, but I suspect that they are few and far between. If everyone is as unrational as I am, I could almost feel sorry for politicians. But then I remember the wisdom of crowds.
Finally, a word in favour of the politicians. If they did not put themselves forward for criticism, ridicule and abuse, we would all be in a sorry state. The rewards of running for office are meagre; and many of them will be desperately disappointed tomorrow evening. To politicians I offer the following thought - if you win, my congratulations; if you lose, then better luck next time.
4 comments:
So many lives sacrificed, so may sufragettes died so that Holyrood Chronicles could spoil its ballot paper. Poor HW, it is all so, so difficult.
Wow, I'm actually amazed that you are going to spoil your ballot paper. Especially after blogging so relentlessly for so long a period. You honestly don't have even the slightest preference of one candidate over another?
I can assure you that the messge won't be getting across, and I'm actually confused as to what your message is meant to be? Is it 'I think you're all rubbish so I'm not voting for any of you'? A bit toys out the pram is it not? Especially given your great salute to politicians in general at the end of your post.
I urge you to choose someone in the consituency vote (give regard to the eminence of Davie Hutchison once more!), if democracy doesn't work in a country there's always a risk George Bush will come along and batter the hell out of us so you'd be doing everyone a favour.
It's really sad that you always spoil your ballot paper. What's even sadder is that it will not make a jot of difference.
Stand yourself next time, and then you'll have someone to vote for.
Not a jot of difference! How wrong can anonymous be?
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