IF YOU DON'T VOTE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN AFTER MAY 6th!

Being a citizen in a democracy brings with it a moral obligation to take part in the democratic process.  If you refuse to vote, then after a new Government has been elected you have no right WHATSOEVER to complain about what that Government does.  Obtaining the vote was a hard earned right.  Don't throw it away.

If you vote for the losing side, of course you can shout you head off with, for example, "Told you so.  This lot are a bunch of untrustworthy charlatans".  If you vote for the winning side you have a right to feel embarrassed or even angry if things do not pan out as you expected.

Further, if you don't vote, then afterwards, just shut up!  It really is that simple!

lib dem the way forward for real change

Total rubbish I'm afraid, you cannot argue that when our electoral system is so undemocratic. I am very politically active and would love to vote for a genuine alternative, but that is not possible in Tiverton. I will go and spoil my ballot, but there is no way I am voting for any of the tossers standing in this constituency.

Why should those who don't vote 'shut up afterwards' ? You don't explain. You explain that you have voted for 50 years for candidates who had no chance of being elected, so that you had the 'right' to say you didn't vote for the victors. Well, I have news for you, I haven't voted in the majority of elections, because there was no point, but I can still say 'I didn't vote for this lot - I knew this would happen' because it's still true!

Quite possibly at this election, those who refuse to vote because there is no point, may constitute a majority for the first time since the extension of the franchise universally. In which case, how can the government possibly claim to have a democratic mandate?

Rather than wasting 50 years voting pointlessly, why don't you get involved in actively seeking to overthrow this rotten system and replace it with something worthwhile?

At 09:30 on 17/04/10, paul8292000  said:
"the lib dem's want to change the voting system whether or not you like the local the person running in this constituencyis another matter"

That is very true.  Like Labour and the Conservatives, the Lib Dems what to change the voting system to that provided by the EU.

The fact that this is not brought to the forefront of any debate is terrible.  Whether you agree with the EU or not, this is one of the biggest issues facing the UK and how it is run and for better or worse, it needs an open debate.

More on topic however, I would strongly agree that people who don't vote can't complain.

There is a saying "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

While I am not suggesting that the current group of leaders is evil, the fact that they are resting easy on the basis that there is a silent majority who do not seriously question the status quo.

When you couple this with many people voting on traditional grounds, then each party has little reason to anything other than line their own pockets.

Only parties which are aiming specifically to do something for the country - like UKIP - are not infected with this.

So, even if you vote for 'a' party, this will decrease the silent majority in the country which will scare the political elite, and make them realise that they really have to do something to win your vote, and that can only mean create policies and carry them through on things which matter to real people, while cutting back on the dishonesty.

So to borrow from a marriage ceremony: vote now or forever hold your peace.

Dear Trotboy2k,  There comes a time in some arguments when the difference between the parties is so great that further discussion becomes pointless.  I think we are there.....  Good luck with the rest of your life.

Hello Fred,

Cheers for Sunday Lunch, it was nice meeting your other half.

By the way I enjoyed your discussion with trotboy, but I wonder what planet he is on when he mentions 'Socialism". Despite my own leanings in that direction, it seems apparent that the last 13 years have been an experiment in a mild form of socialism that has bankrupted this country, I know people will say its all the banks' fault but that seems to be the copout of the century. Like in Orwell's animal Farm, Snowball gets the blame for everything, long after he has left the farm!

Anyway Mr Trotboy, enjoy May 6th, at least we can have elections in this country unlike the old cold war days of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Get my drift?

Mr Diplomacy, what planet am I on? I have to say not the same one as you, clearly, indeed not the same country as you, clearly! A 'mild for of Socialism' for the 'past 13 years' !? If you call New Labour's extension of Thatcherite free market capitalism beyond her wildest dreams 'mild socialism' you are living in cloud cuckoo land! I'm glad you bring up elections in the USSR. The USSR had 'the most democratic constitution in the world' (Or so Stalin claimed!) they had regular elections in which you could vote for a selection of candidates, usually a choice of three, all of whom were 'Communist'. Sounds remarkably different from our wonderful 'democratic' choice of three Capitalists!