The X Factor

It’ll make voter turnout statistics look worse. They don’t pay tax. It won’t encourage participation.  They don’t know what they’re doing.  The arguments bantered around the inflated halls of Parliament are as feeble as ever.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 have made it as clear as vodka (Because apparently, that, and White Lightning is all we’d ever choose to binge on), that they’re opposed to lowering the voting age, whilst Westminster tip-toes around the issue worse than John Prescott on an ice-rink. Simply:

Stop condescending to teenagers. 

I mean, when we read ‘Lord of the Flies’, we don’t do headstands in the sand and fight to the death.  We are capable of critical understanding. Hell, if we are capable of understanding that, we are capable of understanding the childishly partisan arguments taken in government.  We don’t need Twitter as politicians do to appeal to the ‘tech-savvy’, nor the flailing references to popular media entertainment to appear ‘in touch’ with the world.  Frankly, I’m not as concerned about the state of Wayne Rooney’s foot as the structure of our next Parliament. It isn’t so much ‘The X Factor’ as ‘Our X Factor’; the vote. Quite simply, we’re intelligent, skilled people of diverse cultures and opinions, wanting to get involved in the political process. 

We are all involved in communities, in working to support the culture and hopes of a nation, nurturing the starlets, (and the weeds), that grow up to become future teachers, civil servants, and politicians. Indeed, we can work full-time, win the lottery (at least, try to), leave home, have sexual relationships, fight in the military, and even get married, and yet we cannot vote. Virtually all of us work; we contribute to society and provide the fresh impetus to limit the burden of an ageing population. Frankly, we are as, if not more, active in society than any other group of the electorate. We deserve to be heard.  

According to EUROSTAT information, there will be a decrease of 24.3% of EU voters between 15 and 24 over the next forty years. As such, young people will be further marginalised in the political process; we must act now in order to stand any chance of political representation.  Indeed, whilst we might not all choose to vote, we would still hold the same issues of voter apathy as any other member of the electorate.  Arguably, we hold more legitimate reasons for voting than anybody else; not influenced by Daddy’s business connections, but beginning to establish ourselves in a world of taxation and employment. Else, we are an empty establishment, an ignorant society, the lost half of a torn bank note. We are resigned to an ignorant government, and ultimately, an undemocratic democracy.

We start slowly, one at a time, the endorsement of one prospective MP, as a community we can build and grow, and obtain the representation which we deserve as a group.

Yours faithfully,

Left Right.

‘Democracy is not blazers and books; it is not suits and swagger, it is the people’.

Debate No.1: Change, Cheese, Clegg

‘I think the world has moved on, and I think you two need to move on with it’

Tonight, amongst the trivial name-calling, childish, political waste that makes me wonder the point in even having political parties, there were at least some positives from the debate, from which we might build on in the future.  Unfortunately, however, these were mired by the countless references to hapless constituents with desperate problems which each of the three leaders valiantly resolved, or seek to resolve as Prime Minister, and fabricated visions of ‘hope’ and ‘change’; which would have been more successful in a Disney cartoon than the political arena.  The plain fact is, whoever wins the next election, the population will not be washed over with a sense of endering hope, bubbling with ‘change’.  Where? How? The three leaders will be happy to go home tonight, knowing a veneer of ‘hope’ has been generated amongst voters; that ‘magical’ things may come from an election of two chameleons.

What wasn’t so magical, however, was the overly made-up, uncomfortable David Cameron. Indeed, the glint of his chin seemed shinier than his less than ambitious policies.  In fact, he was more akin to a rutted piece of edam cheese. On the policy of immigration, he proposed an idea of a Border Police Force, whilst turning a blind eye to the gaping hole in his policing budget, and the crucial role played by the UK Border Agency. On crime, he seemed to nag his mother about her useless abilities to give proper sentencing, and on the economy. Well well well. Rather than define his own policy, he sees it much easier to attack each others (again, much with the consistency of a pale lump of cheddar) So: ‘Shall I tell you how we pay for it?’

A slick, smiling, youthful future of politics, however practised, did at least offer an opportunity to engage with the audience, and challenge the inflated claims made all night by the two leaders. ‘Shall I tell you how we pay for it?’.  No dithering, no stalling, but happy to answer a question (which everybody, young and old, has to be happy for!); Nick Clegg devised policy, set out his ideas, was witty, and ultimately, showed the respect and grounding that his party have lacked for so long. Most importantly, he did what everybody likes to see in Politics, he slammed the Conservative Leader on his ‘fabricated ideas’. ‘Shall I tell you how we pay for it?’. Finally, he recognised the ‘Grotesque spectacle of tax system’ now offered by Thing 1 and Thing 2 in government, and crucially, elements of the Robin Hood Tax which, frankly, is a no-brainer.

The arguments of National Insurance, and Budget Deficits can only run for so long. In fact, You simply cannot seriously suggest, you can cut the deficit’, with ‘lashings’ of cutting inheritance tax, making ‘a blizzard of tax breaks’ were frankly as childishly unbelievable as the kid at school whose dad was in MI5, and had all the Pokemon cards (Laurence Martin, in my case).  Worse, it treats the electorate like morons. Hell, I can’t even vote and I know that you can’t offer someone an free pint, give them free food, and still be a successful landlord. Which presumably justifies why his Chancellor never studied Economics. It’s probably also why he couldn’t grasp that cutting government waste = redundancies. Not exactly a tough equation (again, one which you might hope a 2:1 in History would allow you to work out).

So where will this take us?  Possibly an audience of a few. Possibly none at all. But for everyone, for every reader we gain, we move that step closer to democratic representation the youth have been crying out for; no longer ‘playing pass the parcel with the same government’, but an opportunity for respect, with grows with everyone of us.