Ok so it’s choice time soon for millions of citizens, but not me. Carrying a Dutch passport means I am not allowed to vote in the general election. I am allowed to vote for WAG, Cardiff Council and EU (albeit in the Netherlands!). Strange, I’ve been a legal European resident and constant taxpayer all my working life, so suggest I should be allowed to join the big one.
That aside, I have always voted Labour, when allowed. I got free education and have free health care and that was the socialism that Labour introduced to Britain. In return I contribute to the economy and have paid back that cost through taxation.
Taxation is good; it should ensure health, education, an excellent infrastructure and basic social support. And the more you earn and spend, the more you pay. Sounds fair to me. Trouble is, in introducing socialism, Labour screwed up big when it came to nationalising transport (witness our railways) and energy (witness our coal, oil, gas and electricity supplies). That is because the complete mindset change toward social democracy will never happen so long as there are people who ultimately exist to win by screwing someone else for profit. You can’t change profit to surplus without unanimous acceptance that this should happen for basic services. How you then mix in our consumer based free market is eternally debatable, but taxation is the one means by which our level of income and expenditure can contribute proportionately to our nation’s ability to pay for an equal opportunity for all.
With my social democracy in mind I have traditionally voted Labour and was a card carrier until Iraq. I now accept that in reality there is now grayness in politics where profit and taxation have introduced the same drivers in the two major parties, with slight differences in approaches in attempting to solve our problems. I sometimes wonder if our beloved Liberal Democrats could be the ones with a better ability to do the capitalism/social democracy juggle.
That juggle is why I would never vote Tory. They only recognise capitalism. Their core leadership and financial backing comes from a privileged background derived from industrialism and hereditary power. They have no need for any social democracy. And after 35 years of working in Cardiff University, I can confirm that the Tories have always been bad news for Higher Education. Money speaks louder than knowledge.
We must remember that our current economic crisis is global in origin and is the result of our international bankers running of with our money and the industrialist giving all our production away to China. A shift in the seat of capitalism. So steering UK PLC through that mess becomes slightly detached from political agendas and Labour have at least faired better than some of our European neighbours. And it doesn’t matter who gets into power; we’ve spent far too much money we haven’t got and we’re in the shit, which will hit us all when the fan starts spinning after May 6th.
In conclusion, may I suggest that you vote Labour if it keeps a Tory out; you vote Liberal if it keeps a Tory out; you vote Plaid if it keeps a Tory out? Or you vote for the person that has actually convinced you they will really represent your constituency. Think global, act local and leave UKIP and BNP to split the Tory vote further. We might then get a coalition that asks us if we want proportional representation.
