So today was postal vote day here in the Owens household. As a member of a democratic society with free elections and at least some choice on who I vote for, it would be remiss of me to complain too much. But I will have a little bit of gripe though!
It is fair to say today's options felt pretty limited when staring at the paper. Having Huey, Dewey and Louie as my top three options would have probably given me more confidence than the shower being presented for perusal today. The European election list was even worse, with 11 options to choose from including 7 various forms of "Take the UK out of Europe" and a Pirate Party!
Unfortunately the situation I find myself in is that I just don't have any faith that those who want to run the country actually have any idea HOW to run the country should they be given that chance. Now I appreciate that I am generalising here but I'm afraid it all drags me back somewhat to Douglas Adams' famous quote regarding the Presidency of the Universe, "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves elected President should on no account be allowed to do the job".
The problem for me comes from the fact that there appears to be a massive disconnect here between wanting to run the country for the good of the country and wanting to run the country because you get loads of perks for being an MP and it looks like jolly good fun. And I suspect that most of those who have the "big" roles are fully aware that nothing ever happens in Government except trying to make the last lot look bad.
It is a real travesty that in the Western developed world we have a system that allows people to have some say in who is in charge, only for our options to represent Moe, Larry and Curly (and not in a good way). There are some people in this world who will NEVER experience true freedom of choice, never experience democracy - even though the form which we see feels slightly stunted sometimes!
But despite all of this, in fact BECAUSE of this it is still vitally important to vote. Freedom can disappear in an instant, and even a freedom that isn't quite as far-reaching as we would hope is surely better than none at all. Not everyone is afforded the luxury of having a say in how their lives are run, we are lucky that we have the option of Moe, Larry and Curly - others are stuck with what they are given.
Till next time,
DT
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