In the UK tomorrow we get the joyous time of voting for our new government... Go Democracy, Up Freedom, yay for Civilised society.
But does it ultimately mean anything. There are several parties to choose from, all with a myriad of points of view and plethora of ideas to run the country.
You as is your right and duty to cast a vote for one such party. Sounds great, YOU get to decide who runs our country for the next few years. Or do you, truly?
Lets face it you could cast your vote for the Green party for example, is the Green party going to win the election, no. Does that mean there is no point to voting for them, realistically their policies aren't going to get a look in, so is voting Green a wasted vote are you actually achieving anything.
Does that mean you actually have the freedom to vote, if you know the party won't win and so the vote isn't going to anything meaningful then are you actually voting, a vote is supposed to achieve something, it's an avatar for your voice, but unless a party wins did your vote actually do anything, in the politics game there's barely a second place, let alone a third, fourth, fifth.
Just as a slight disclaimer to all this, I utterly believe everyone should vote. I come from a family that holds a strong belief, if you don't vote then you have no right to question (complain about) the country, because you did nothing to change it.
People who say I don't vote in protest that'll show them! Actually no it won't, a party will still come into power if you don't vote. It would have to take a MASSIVE portion of the country not to vote to destabilise the voting system and even then I'm not sure it would, all it would probably do would even more so guarantee one of the big two in coming into power. To truly protest against Democracy and the vote you would need to achieve revolution and bring in a new form of government, a much taller order than not turning up to the polling booth. What often seems silly with people who decide not to vote is, if they did vote they'd probably go for one of the smaller parties. Maybe all the non-voters should really organise and all vote for one of the smaller parties, while it might not make them win it would make a great headline for debate.
So where do we then sit, to not vote does not achieve what was desired. To vote for a smaller party that won't get into power doesn't really help you get the policies you want into the mainstream... So does that mean you should just vote for a big party so that you know your vote counted for something. Kinda counter intuitive to the freedom to vote, you would end up voting for policies you don't want, but if you vote for smaller parties you're not going to see the policies you wanted anyway.
Obviously if you're wanting to go for one of the big two then it's an easier place to be, you know voting for one of them could actually make a difference... or does it? If I lived in an area dominated by Torie vote, then labour would indeed become a small party, see above.
So what are you left with. Stopping what you view as the greater evil getting into power, the so called 'tactical' voting, where instead of voting for your chosen party you vote for a party that's close to majority in your area to stop another party getting majority... Wait hang on so now we're talking about not using your vote for you, but instead for other people. None of the parties are without downside. If you go Tories you'll probably see more of your money, but you'll probably lose a chunk if not all of your free healthcare. You go labour probably have less money in your pocket, but you'll probably keep your NHS.
Lib Dem, who knows what you'd get, they'd probably be part of a coalition and so pretty much just roll over for the ideals of the other party.
Green don't like roads, but they do like immigration
UKIP aren't fans of immigration and sending money overseas, but they also want to increase VAT (that's a biggy on the wallet)
there are others, but unless you're Scottish or Welsh you most likely haven't followed them too closely.
So where does that leave us. There are really only two likely parties to win majority, though a couple of options if coalitions come into play. Does that mean we've got freedom of vote then, or is it all just a system to stop revolution by making people believe they affect decision, future and path.
Then just when you think you've made your decision on who to vote for you get a niggle in the back of your mind... How many parties ever fully deliver on their Manifestos, what if they don't achieve the part of their pledge that swung your vote their way.
Politics and the Vote... Freedom of choice to make change, or Fate in a system of Control