Meditations from the Abyss
By Myles Cook
Firstly, a quick explanation of the title of the column – I live in what I call “The Abyss”, a state of depression that has lasted for 31 years, and, hopefully, this column is a thoughtful contribution to the site (meditative, if you will). Now on to the main commentary…
Election time has come and gone and, as usual, my polling card remains unused and discarded. Why? It’s a reasonable question that deserves an answer because am I not in dereliction of my duty as a citizen by refusing to vote?
My answer is that I refuse to vote on a matter of principle – there is no real protest vote open to me, merely a list of people ranging from the mildly appropriate to the weird, wacky or totally unsuitable. The prospective politicians on offer, in general, represent political parties that, in some instances, have turned their backs on or marginalised the ideologies that their party is supposed to be based on. Some political parties have gone further and plunged their hands into their underlying ideology’s chest and ripped out its still beating heart, throwing it on the pile of society’s discarded hopes and dreams. All it takes is a read through a book on political ideologies to see which party I’m talking about but I’m not going to name it here as I have enough enemies as it is… and one can never tell how they will react to criticism.
I believe that democracy can only be served by the addition of a true protest vote, a None of the Above if you will, to register discontent with our elected officials, some of whom enter politics simply to pander to their lust for power and influence. Until that day, I live by the following maxim – don’t vote, it only encourages them!
There are many political ideologies that have good points contained within them and it would be wise for society to start looking at ways of combining the best points into a new and vibrant ideology that works rather than supporting those that don’t work or have no relevance in today’s world. It may be an impossible task but it would at least be worth the attempt because, if we succeeded, life may be better for all of us… I might even vote!
