What if they gave an election and nobody came...?
Wednesday, May 4th, 2005 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanFollowing on from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pax_draconis’s St Crispin’s Day message to voters yesterday, and The Lord of String’s (mr_h_r_hughes) observations today, I thought I’d wade in briefly. Well, chuck a pebble into the pool of debate, anyway.
There was an interesting article in yesterday’s Times, written by Dan Snow (Peter Snow’s boy), explaining why, in his view, the young don’t vote in great numbers: It’s best to leave politics to oldies.
His argument is, essentially, that for the young voter, most issues raised by politicians don’t affect young adults directly – or at least are not perceived to do so:
He also points out that where the Government and Parliament does impinge on the province of the young, then engagement in politics does take place:
It’s an interesting perspective, and worth a read, even if you think his reasoning is drivel.
For myself, I have yet to decide whether I can be bothered to travel from work down to Clapham, vote against Kate Hoey and her 20,000 majority, and then travel all the way back across London to Whetstone.
Normally, it wouldn't even occur to me not to vote; but Vauxhall is hardly a marginal, and even the fact that I appear to be on the Electoral Roll three times wouldn't make the slightest difference to Ms Hoey's re-election.
pax_draconis’s St Crispin’s Day message to voters yesterday, and The Lord of String’s (mr_h_r_hughes) observations today, I thought I’d wade in briefly. Well, chuck a pebble into the pool of debate, anyway.There was an interesting article in yesterday’s Times, written by Dan Snow (Peter Snow’s boy), explaining why, in his view, the young don’t vote in great numbers: It’s best to leave politics to oldies.
His argument is, essentially, that for the young voter, most issues raised by politicians don’t affect young adults directly – or at least are not perceived to do so:
The reasons why older people vote say a lot about why the young do not. They make their decision based on what seems to touch them directly. The health service ranks top, followed by schools, immigration, crime and pensions. Parents worry about their child’s school, older people worry about hospitals and pensioners worry about, well, pensions.
My friends and I have never been near a hospital — after all, we are immortal — so MRSA is not on the radar screen. We couldn’t give a toss about foundation hospitals because we cannot imagine that we’re going to be in one any time soon. We have no children and, having just escaped from the confines of the classroom, we are not motivated to debate the pros and cons of city academies.
He also points out that where the Government and Parliament does impinge on the province of the young, then engagement in politics does take place:
We engage when things seem to affect us. We howled with outrage when we were asked to contribute to the cost of our degrees. We voted as well, and now student-heavy seats such as Oxford West & Abingdon are in the iron grip of the Lib Dems.
It’s an interesting perspective, and worth a read, even if you think his reasoning is drivel.
For myself, I have yet to decide whether I can be bothered to travel from work down to Clapham, vote against Kate Hoey and her 20,000 majority, and then travel all the way back across London to Whetstone.
Normally, it wouldn't even occur to me not to vote; but Vauxhall is hardly a marginal, and even the fact that I appear to be on the Electoral Roll three times wouldn't make the slightest difference to Ms Hoey's re-election.