Powerlessness and voting

In the previous blog message I advanced one reason why voters cannot be bothered to vote in elections - in many cases not even bothered to use the postal vote they have been given.

Here is another reason, - they feel that there is little point, that casting their vote will make little difference. This has been the case for some years, elections were won or lost mostly as seats changed hands in marginal seats. Where the seat is "safe" for one party, why bother?

Things have changed.
Most of us vote for representatives at four levels:

1) Town or parish councillor.

They work hard, but in the end have little power - they may be consulted on things like planning, but their views could well be disregarded at the next level up. It is perhaps the powerlessness which results in the situation that many councillors are returned without election or by co-option. In the case of my own Town Council, with 12 councillors, three each in four wards, in 2007 three were elected, seven stood but were returned without election, and two were co-opted.

2) Borough or county councillor.

There is more power at this level, but increasingly they operate under severe constraints from Whitehall. In planning matters, for instance, they suspect that if they refuse a planning application, there is every possibility that the applicant will merely go to appeal and someone higher up will overrule the council decision.

3) Member of Parliament.

This is where the real power resides? This is more illusion than reality. It is said that 80% of business is merely debating in a powerless way, decisions which have been made in Brussels. We have lost all major control of policy over Fishing, Agriculture, Trade and Environment.

4) Member of the European Parliament.

In fact the Parliament is a talking shop which merely rubber stamps decisions made elsewhere.
Since the European Comission and Council of Ministers, the real power centre, pours out vast quantities of legislation, the Parliament rubber stamps at high speed, perhaps hundreds of documents in a single day.

So the real power rests with unelected bureaucrats, commissioners and ministers appointed by prime ministers and sent from homelands. None of these is elected to office and power by the people of Europe. There is a real democratic deficit.

Is anyone surprised that people do not turn out to vote, when they can influence very little indeed. The politicians have made all sorts of assumptions - it is too far to walk to the polling station and it might rain, so let them vote by post, or on line, or in the supermarket.

The real problem, however, is that there is no incentive to vote, especially when politicians are held in such low esteem. It is impossible to change what is decided behind remote closed doors.