Believe In Your Vote - You Can Always Change Your Mind

It’s said we get more conservative as we get older.  Definitely not me.

Another election has just passed us by in the UK.  These periodic festivals of the democratic process (whatever that really is) always cause me to reflect on the me of previous election years and what is now different.

Shamefully, my engagement in politics drifts from ‘I’m really interested, maybe I should get involved, I should really join a party’ to ‘I can’t be arsed with it as it’s all a repetitive cycle of shite.’  Guess I’m not unusual in this respect but it does mean my own political timeline is not etched in my mind with any accuracy.

I grew up in an extended family where politics was never talked about so I have no ‘dyed in the wool’ backstory as many do.  I went to an all-boys school (not posh) where I was head boy.  I was a goody two shoes and craved adult approval while being the presentable face on formal occasions.  Always a genuinely nice and kind boy but all show and no depth of substance.  I was suspicious and afraid of others who weren’t like me and I had a difficult relationship with difference growing up in a place like Bradford.  I was a massive snob in many areas of my life so for my first vote to be in a European Parliamentary Election it’s not a massive surprise I voted Tory.  I picked up on the message of keeping European influence at arms-length and if truth be told, the candidate I voted for had past associations with a former school of mine and he was Catholic, like me, so in my eyes he was clearly the right person for the job.

Falling in love always changes us.  When I met my dearly beloved and she seemed happy to stick with me, her left wing leanings definitely started questions racing.*  Away from the ties of my youth I felt rather liberated that I was a free voter; ready to be convinced.  Yes folks this is possible.  I know some people seem to think you are either blue or red and anybody who votes otherwise are deluded or just mischievous, but there really are people who want to make a decision based on policy or strength of argument.  At some point, therefore, I remember voting Lib Dem in a Scottish local election.  I read a lot about the candidates, I was aware of the pressing issues for my local ward and I could only identify one candidate who seemed interested in said issues.  I have no recollection whether they won, but I was happy with my democratic exercising.

Since this time I have voted Labour.**  Not because my wool has now been dyed, but because I have voted for the candidate each time who I think speaks best for the local and national issues that most concern me. 

This time round I was no big fan of Jeremy Corbyn or his potential to lead a country but I was not voting for him.  I was voting for my local sitting MP who in her first short term as a young parliamentarian, had shown signs of being a person who truly wants to represent me.  Hell, she even responded to my letter campaigning for safer cycling so she’ll do for me.  Would I vote for another party in future?  Yes, if it is the right thing for me to do.  Secretly, I hope there will be a new party emerges who seamlessly base their manifesto on the outpourings of my brain but I suspect this is unlikely!

Wiser people than me will probably read this and laugh at my idealistic view of voting and how naïve I am to the fact that politics is really a Game of Thrones affair of deals and power play for a select few.  I don’t care.  I believe there are still people who want to stand for parliament to represent and try to change things.  I know one of these people personally.  He is not a careerist.  He cares.

So elections help us to reflect on changes in our own lives.  I’ve changed.  I’ve become much more liberal and open.  I cringe at the younger me sometimes and how narrow minded I was.  I’m always working on my snobbery and I am trying to remain positive about politics and humanity even when it can seem the world is falling apart.  This week I feel like I want to get involved.  I feel like I want to challenge myself further to be a better person.  Next week I may just think it’s all a load of shite again. 

*Young voters take note.  Your choices now may change but that doesn't make them invalid.  Just do a bit more reading than I did when making your ballot paper decisions.  I also recommend you move away or get out of their comfort zone in your late teens and early 20s.  I love Yorkshire and am not surprised I have ended up living back near to where I grew up, but the years I spent away really gave me perspective.

**This will probably still come as a shock to some people who seem to have me cast as William Hague’s West Yorkshire off-spring.  Look at the facts people.  I worked in a job that involved rehabilitating some of society’s outcasts.  I am not a career hungry aspirant, I wear a flat cap and I care about more people than my immediate family.  It’s obvious really.