I have always voted and have taken my kids with me to vote since they were in a pram. If we live in a representative democracy, which the UK claims to be - then we should ensure our Parliament reflects who we are as a society. Sadly I don’t think ours does - and this puts people off voting. Women (especially of child bearing age), people of colour, disabled and LGBTQ folk are all
under-represented. Why? Because our first past the post system allows parties whose voters are geographically clustered to benefit - having your voters spread evenly across the country harms a political party. In today’s online world you also need an incredibly thick skin to cope with the vitriolic cyber abuse that candidates and MPs are exposed to. In reality only a handful of marginal seats determine the outcome of an election in a FPTP system. Many constituencies in the UK haven’t changed hands in over a hundred years or at least since WW2 - this benefits the ruling party and increases voter apathy as nothing changes for generations. If I could propose one thing to increase people’s motivation to vote it would be to introduce proportional representation.
Yep. Although, I've also lived in countries with proportional representation and experienced protracted periods when elected folks couldn't reach an agreement to form a government, and citizens were called to vote again and again after all the horsetrading failed.
This was especially good, Tania -- very thought-provoking. I vote for many reasons, but chief among them is that women in America gained the right to vote only 103 years ago -- *absolutely not that long ago at all* -- after many decades of struggle and fight. The very least I can do is honor the efforts of the women who came before me and use *my* right to vote as often as I can.
I have always voted and have taken my kids with me to vote since they were in a pram. If we live in a representative democracy, which the UK claims to be - then we should ensure our Parliament reflects who we are as a society. Sadly I don’t think ours does - and this puts people off voting. Women (especially of child bearing age), people of colour, disabled and LGBTQ folk are all
under-represented. Why? Because our first past the post system allows parties whose voters are geographically clustered to benefit - having your voters spread evenly across the country harms a political party. In today’s online world you also need an incredibly thick skin to cope with the vitriolic cyber abuse that candidates and MPs are exposed to. In reality only a handful of marginal seats determine the outcome of an election in a FPTP system. Many constituencies in the UK haven’t changed hands in over a hundred years or at least since WW2 - this benefits the ruling party and increases voter apathy as nothing changes for generations. If I could propose one thing to increase people’s motivation to vote it would be to introduce proportional representation.
Yep. Although, I've also lived in countries with proportional representation and experienced protracted periods when elected folks couldn't reach an agreement to form a government, and citizens were called to vote again and again after all the horsetrading failed.
This was especially good, Tania -- very thought-provoking. I vote for many reasons, but chief among them is that women in America gained the right to vote only 103 years ago -- *absolutely not that long ago at all* -- after many decades of struggle and fight. The very least I can do is honor the efforts of the women who came before me and use *my* right to vote as often as I can.
My countrywomen earned the right to vote in 1944 😳 (Also, you are such a fast reader!!)
That is mind-boggling. (I do read fast, but I also devour your words especially!)