In my not-even-remotely-humble-opinion, if you cast your vote based a reason such as one of these:
Then if anyone has forfeited the right to bitch about the political status quo, it's you. It certainly is not those that point blank refuse to elect a person/party they do not want in power.
It's all well and good saying that if you don't like it, become a candidate yourself. But you still have to work within the very system that's flawed to begin with, and which will oppose such a change.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the system needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. I certainly have no delusions of some bullshit utopian ideal. What I'm saying is that the current implementation of the political party system is failing the very people it is supposed to serve.
Change will come about through the demands of the populace. They need to speak out with their voices, not votes. Casting a vote for one party won't change the policies of the others.
Even if you manage to get suitable candidates elected, they'll be considered part of the lunatic fringe by the main parliamentary body. That's why most people don't stand as candidates, it just doesn't doesn't have a reasonable probability of doing anything productive. What you need to do is the get the current political parties to wake the fuck up and start listening to their constituencies rather than corporations. As long as political parties are receiving "donations" from those corporations, and as long as the primary media outlets are owned by them, substantial change is going to be a long time coming.
So in short, I don't vote and bollocks to anyone that says I should
- You have to vote for someone, might as well be them
- Best of a bad bunch
- To get the other lot out of office
Then if anyone has forfeited the right to bitch about the political status quo, it's you. It certainly is not those that point blank refuse to elect a person/party they do not want in power.
It's all well and good saying that if you don't like it, become a candidate yourself. But you still have to work within the very system that's flawed to begin with, and which will oppose such a change.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the system needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. I certainly have no delusions of some bullshit utopian ideal. What I'm saying is that the current implementation of the political party system is failing the very people it is supposed to serve.
Change will come about through the demands of the populace. They need to speak out with their voices, not votes. Casting a vote for one party won't change the policies of the others.
Even if you manage to get suitable candidates elected, they'll be considered part of the lunatic fringe by the main parliamentary body. That's why most people don't stand as candidates, it just doesn't doesn't have a reasonable probability of doing anything productive. What you need to do is the get the current political parties to wake the fuck up and start listening to their constituencies rather than corporations. As long as political parties are receiving "donations" from those corporations, and as long as the primary media outlets are owned by them, substantial change is going to be a long time coming.
So in short, I don't vote and bollocks to anyone that says I should
