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+++A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT TO PROVE THAT A VOTE FOR A SMALL PARTY ISN'T WASTED+++
Let's imagine an election in which the public is so angry with the government, and so disillusioned with the opposition's ability to do anything different, that hardly anybody bothers...1/n
+++A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT TO PROVE THAT A VOTE FOR A SMALL PARTY ISN'T WASTED+++
Let's imagine an election in which the public is so angry with the government, and so disillusioned with the opposition's ability to do anything different, that hardly anybody bothers...1/n
...voting. In fact, in our hypothetical election, only the million and a half or so people who are actually members of a political party vote. The election's turnout is therefore only ~3%. Whoever won would have no legitimacy and couldn't claim a democratic mandate. But... 2/n
...more importantly, such a low turnout -- nothing less than a voters' strike -- would be a message that hit Whitehall and Westminster like a thunder clap. Peter Hitchens has often made this point. He has argued that all ballot papers should have a 'none of the above'...3/n
...option, so voters could put a metaphorical pox on all the parties' houses. Absent this, he suggests refusing to vote to deny them the legitimacy they crave, in the same way that they would be denied it in our hypothetical election. But another option to achieve the...4/n
..same ends is to vote for the smaller parties. Could be the one of which I'm a member, the @SDPhq. Or it could be @georgegalloway's Party, or @ReformUKCouncil. It doesn't matter. What matters is that by showing the main parties that you're not interested, you send a...5/n
...message that they must heed. In fact, if loads of seats looked like this:
Tory: 3,541
Labour: 3,211
Reform: 2,805
SDP: 2,750
Green: 2,906
UKIP: 600
Lib Dem: 2,789
Reclaim: 2,438
They would be utterly terrified. They'd have no legitimacy. They would know they'd...6/n
Tory: 3,541
Labour: 3,211
Reform: 2,805
SDP: 2,750
Green: 2,906
UKIP: 600
Lib Dem: 2,789
Reclaim: 2,438
They would be utterly terrified. They'd have no legitimacy. They would know they'd...6/n
...lost the public. You're far more likely to get the two main parties to sit up and take notice in such circumstances than voting for them, or being a member, and hoping somehow to influence them in your direction. The Tory Party, for example, only offered the...7/n
...Brexit referendum because it was terrified of the inroads UKIP was making. And that was despite the fact most 'Conservative' Party members and voters were strongly Eurosceptic. As long as they kept paying membership dues and voting for Tory candidates, the 'Conservative'...8/n
...Party could get away with it. The instant even a small number didn't, things changed.
Can we all now agree that a vote for a smaller party isn't a wasted vote? Even tightly in terms of influencing the duopoly, it counts. 9/n
ENDS
Can we all now agree that a vote for a smaller party isn't a wasted vote? Even tightly in terms of influencing the duopoly, it counts. 9/n
ENDS
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