Election Choices and Change: Would one prefer to be kicked or punched?

Election time…change is in the air

There’s an election on but is anyone bothered? Well, I for one hope people are very bothered because we really need to consider the gravity of the situation our country is facing. If the election battle buses weren’t enough of a giveaway; we’ve had the prime time TV election debates and the coy answers from each leader refusing to answer a question directly even more so than usual and then things really got into full swing this week with each leader boring us all to death with the launching of manifestos indicating ‘change’ is on the agenda. Yawn…sigh….long outward exhale. Change?! I hope they mean it. Change really needs to be top of the agenda and I mean beyond the usual rhetoric and lip service. The country is in a pretty poor state after thirteen years of Labour and people are worse off now then they were on that fateful day when Blair and his babes swept into power in 1997.

What’s the difference?

The problem is that for all this talk of change, many people think it is largely academic and they have heard it all before. The electorate feel so disillusioned and alienated from it all, that there is likely to be a fairly poor turnout with most people not knowing who to vote for. So they may just stay at home and put the TV on and let it all wash over them with the company of David Dimbleby and Jeremy Vine. What is the difference between the options we have? Well, let’s start with obvious some similarities. Both Labour and Tories are full or corrupt, self seeking, power hungry, out of touch, anti public servants. Each of the recent scandals of expenses, cash for lobbying and non-declared holidays have been across all the mainstream parties. Any credible opposition now would define the differences and see off Brown and his bandits without even breaking sweat. Is Cameron leading a Conservative opposition that is a credible pretender to the government throne? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Tory or Labour: Would Sir preferring kicking or punching?

Someone asked me the other day who I would be voting for and who I wanted to win the election? The issue with that question is it is rather like asking one if they would rather be punched in the face or kicked in the knee? Neither are rather appealing options so the alternative is to run away and ignore it all. Not good though, as things will catch up with you. Going to have to face up to the pain and take one for the team. Both a punch and a kick are going to result in pain in the short term and are really going to hurt. They are going to hurt in different places and the pain will last longer in one of them and the pain in the other will subside as the injury heals. I would still rather decide if I am kicked or punched and make the choice myself though than be rudely awakened on a lovely May morning to be punched in the face without any say in the matter.

The lesser of two evils

This is the question people need to answer. Things are going to get worse after the election and very tough decisions are going to have to be taken. There are some key issues where both parties are refusing to be drawn on and backed into a corner. We will see the results of those untouched issues come the second week in May. If the Conservative Party are elected, VAT will go up, public spending will be cut dramatically and unemployment will go up. If Labour get in, we will most likely see more stealth taxes and election promises will be broken and NI contributions will go up if they complete another term.

The parties can’t please everybody but what we should not see is people complaining over the next few years that they aren’t listened to and we need change. Now is the time for peoples’ voices and opinions to be counted to instigate change. We live in a democracy (most of the time) and at least we have the power to elect who represents us even if once they’re in, they lose any ounce of maturity and integrity they once had.