Voting for a UK political party is weird. It’s not like getting a plumber to fix the leak under the sink. If the plumber bodges the job, causes a major flood, ruins a carpet and clears off without fixing the leak, we don’t use him again.
If we vote a political party into government and it fails to deliver any of its pre-election promises, squanders vast amounts of taxpayers’ money and makes a shambles of everything it touches, millions of loyal voters will still vote for it again.
That’s weird.
12 comments:
On the other hand... my gang is awful, your gang is awfuller.
Not weird at all, just endlessly disappointing until a new party gets a chance...
That is weird. But there are more than two plumbers, and people understand that water leaking everywhere after you hire one, is not the correct state of affairs and can't be blamed on the last plumber you used
People understand taps more than politics, it seems
Also, plumbers are insured, so whaever they mess up, can still be fixed
There is an element of least worst option about it but I suspect some of it is because many people vote with their hearts, not their heads - rather like die-hard supporters of a football team who follow them however bad their performance in the hope things will eventually improve.
For some, it is, as my mother says, ‘in with the bricks’. Back in my left-wing days, while I was in part rebelling against my parents, I had many friends who were cradle socialists for whom the concept of a Conservative voter was an abstract abomination. Unless they mellowed with age, it’s likely they still follow the party loyalties instilled before they could talk in much the same way that most medieval Christians never questioned the teachings and rituals of the Church.
Unfortunately, as we have seen, 20% of the potential vote is enough for a landslide if it’s the right 20%.
DJ - it is endlessly disappointing, so much so that this seems to be the process. As if the Blob has decided that voters must suck up all the disappointment so there is much less of it left for people who matter.
Bucko - "People understand taps more than politics, it seems."
Ha ha - sums it up I reckon.
Macheath - there may be a substantial element of least worst option in voting, but it isn't very effective and seems to be manipulated by political parties and the media.
"Unfortunately, as we have seen, 20% of the potential vote is enough for a landslide if it’s the right 20%."
Yes that's the problem, loyal voters are problem voters because there are too many to make a democracy work in anything like an effective manner.
I've just seen someone on Twitter saying Reform couldn't fix a dripping tap. Made me giggle
Management consultants will tell you that the best strategy is to under-promise and over-deliver thus making your customers love you. It *is* weird that political parties do the reverse. Perhaps unless you regard the manifestos merely as glossy brochures competing to gain your attention.
Bucko - that made me think of Mandelson for some reason.
DJ - most businesses do seem to over-promise to some degree while knowing where the practical boundaries are, but political parties seem to ignore practical boundaries. Their glossy brochures don't stop short of promising the impossible and maybe that reflects their lack of business experience and acumen.
Or it reflect simple dishonesty taking advantage of inadequate voter involvement and other missing constraints.
When I was a fresher I met a chap who told me that until he got to university he had never knowingly met anyone who didn't vote Labour. He found university so enlightening.
Something about this rang a bell which sent me back to your archives to revisit the piece on Low Information Voters; a very interesting read with the benefit of over twelve years of hindsight and a change of government.
I’m including the link in case anyone else wants to reread it too - hope that’s OK.
https://akhaart.blogspot.com/2013/03/low-information-voters.html
Well I don't know about 'low information voters', but if you're a 'high information' voter with a good education, you're no better off, since the politicians renege and even change their manifesto policies when they assume power, so what did you vote for? Also, you may have much more information about a subject than say ahem, a Milliband, but what good does that do you?
dearieme - I bet Miliband still hasn't.
Macheath - it is OK, thanks for the link. I was thinking about that post the other day with the idea of revisiting the subject, although in the end I didn't look it up.
I imagine Starmer prompted the reminder in my case, but it is still worth raising again. Difficult to do without feeling patronising unfortunately, even though the problem is real.
Tammly - yes that's the problem - what are we voting for if we can't believe them? If there is no trust then our votes are useless, which can't be entirely unintentional.
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