Reconsidering Voting

It's been a rollercoaster of a past eighteen months! First we had Brexit, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/article-50-at-last.html and then Trump, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/coronation-of-god-emperor.html; two things I never thought could happen, but they did. This led me to consider whether this is the start of a collapse of Illuminati rule across the world at a very fundamental level; "springtime in Narnia", see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/conspiracy-theorists-finally-proved.html. If that is so then I'm going to have to reassess many of my previous opinions on the political process. Up until now I've always boycotted all elections because I've regarded democracy as a fraud. I believed all the political structures of society were controlled at a higher level by a shadow government that never changes, and they were. If the shadowy elite's grip on power is weakening then perhaps voting in elections is not such a futile affair after all. I used to disagree vehemently with my old friend and fellow researcher Ian R Crane over this. He always said that it was vital to engage in the political process and he even made this appeal as part of his "Apathy Kills" tour, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ocF1exOIs. Now I'm not so sure. Ian posted this on social media a few weeks ago: "In reality, in England on Thurs 8th June, a vote for anyone other than the Labour candidate is effectively a vote for the Tories. And those who elect not to vote at all are effectively giving the Tories an easy ride back into office... with the inevitable consequences!" This followed the Prime Minister's announcement that there would soon be a general election, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/general-election-snap.html.

Based on recent events, on balance, I probably will vote in this next election. This has led me to ask questions I've never had to address before. How should democracy ideally be conducted? Who should be eligible to vote? Should some citizens be excluded? Women? The elderly? The under twenty-one's? Despite my opposition to cultural Marxism I have no problem with female suffrage. I'm surprised how many people are now against women voting, even some women. Stefan Molyneux feels very dubious about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MejkH61o_U. As it turned out, more white women voted for Trump than Hillary. Also I would object to an upper age limit on voting. On the contrary, elderly people are often very wise; in fact if it wasn't for the "grey vote" we would never have had Brexit. What about a lower age limit? How old do you have to be to have the responsibility and knowledge to make an informed decision? Above all, who should I vote for? All of the mainstream parties repel me. The Tories? No way! Despite Ian's imploring I can't bring myself to vote Labour, even though I can't resist a grudging respect for Jeremy Corbyn, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/corbyn-falls-asleep-on-train.html. The Liberal Democrats are a bunch of pathetic Remoaning sell-outs. If I lived in Wales I would never vote for Plaid Cymru because they are "federalists", see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/plaid-cymru-and-eu.html. Who does that leave? I'd probably vote UKIP, although I have a lot of differences with them; for example, I don't think the burka should be banned, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/banning-burka.html. Anyway, they're not standing in my constituency. The situation in Oxford East is very interesting at the moment because Andrew Smith MP is retiring. Mr Smith is part of the furniture here in Oxford. He has been Member of Parliament for this safe Labour seat since 1987 and was one of "Tony's cronies", serving as Blair's Treasury secretary and then Minister for Work and Pensions. The local Labour district have announced that his replacement will be Annaliese Dodds, a "woman candidate!" of course. She has come up on HPANWO before, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/oxford-ttip-meeting.html. I don't trust her for various reasons, not least because of her rather uncommitted stance on TTIP. She will almost certainly win, but probably by a smaller margin than Smith used to enjoy. Larry Sanders, Bernie's brother, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/trump-n-sanders.html, is once again standing for the Greens and they will probably cut into Labour's majority quite a bit. So we'll see what happens. One thing's for sure; according to the electoral register I still live in the house I moved out of in 2011 so I'll have to pay the current residents a visit and ask for my polling card before they do an Elvis and return it to sender.

See here for more background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/not-voting-reply-to-thomas-g-clark.html.

And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/general-election-result.html.

And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/au-revoir-la-france.html.

And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/vote-for-deek-jackson.html.