He’s Leaving The Party
Morningstar says that he is leaving
I’m not going to stop being a C/conservative, but I am just so fed up of trying to delude myself that the Conservative party speaks for me any longer…
All we hear from “Dave” is middle of the road, centre ground, middle England, middle classes, and it’s bollocks, the politics of mediocrity, selling out to the lowest common denominator. In PMQs the odd scripted remarks draws laughs but he isn’t thinking on his feet, he has his script and it fails him too many times.
I’m fed up of it…
So when CCHQ sent me a letter which asked me to join my local association, instead of a national membership through the Conservative party website, I started to think long and hard.
Today I decided that I’m not going to renew.
That’s fair enough. But then he adds in the comments:
It may be that I don’t vote at all at the next election…
Which is pretty damn stupid, really. In a follow-up post on the same issue, he also says:
Now I just need to start looking at the other parties and their policies, let’s see whose most match with my own views.
The problem with that if he won’t vote for Labour or the Lib Dems or the Conservatives, his vote will have pretty much no point, or even be possible since not all seats will have other parties contesting them, let alone the party you choose. We only have three decent sized parties in our political system, and only two with any chance of winning an election. Labour and the Conservatives. The choice is thus pretty much just between them.
No person agrees entirely with another person. Be it on minor issues or huge ones, there will be differences between each and every person. Thus no party can ever possibly completely represent you and hold all of your views within it - unless, of course, you are the leader, and not even necessarily then. Thus we have to make compromises. I don’t agree with everything that the Conservative Party says or does, plenty of which has been documented at one point or another on this blog - and will continue to be.
Our political system means that if you don’t vote for one of the three main parties, your vote is almost always completely wasted. Thus you have to compromise, and choose the party who you most agree with and who represents your views more than the others from those three and vote for them. Whilst that doesn’t mean that you should stay as a member of a party that you are not sure fully represents your views any more, it does mean that you should still vote for them - or you are giving those with whom you agree with least more chance of getting in. That is simply how this system works.
This entry is filed under Conservative Party, Democracy, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
You say “The problem with that if he won’t vote for Labour or the Lib Dems or the Conservatives, his vote will have pretty much no point, or even be possible since not all seats will have other parties contesting them, let alone the party you choose.”
You are assuming that a spoilt ballot paper or a vote for a minor party is a waste, it isn’t, it is still exercising your democratic right and voicing your opinion. Your vote, or non vote, in the event of a spoiled ballot paper, is still recorded.
I will go to the ballot box and be heard, even if it is just by the person counting.
Don’t frighten us. I thought you meant BP.
By the way, though you were already Top 100, congrats on maintaining your place - a top blog indeed.