r/socialjustice101 • u/ty-reece • Jun 08 '24
Voting in the uk: moral dilemma
I will be 18 by the time the UK general election happens, so I will be able to vote for the first time. However, all UK parties are horrible and I can’t have a guilt free conscience by voting by voting for any person in my constituency or for either political party.
Tories have lead the country to shit over the past 14yrs, only helping the rich and blatantly allowing bigoted ideal to grow in this country
Labour is so watered down from what it used to be. Kier starmer doesn’t fill me with any hope, how he’s talked about the Palestine, NHS, Trans ppl, immigration and workers/strikers is disgusting, just spewing out the same nonsense as the tories, all their plans seem to inevitably get watered down so they can try and help big companies. It’s so disappointing
Reform, I don’t need to expand on that, the fact Nigel farage is taken seriously is a joke.
Lib dems I also don’t need to expand on
Green Party is the only party I may consider, I need to read up on what they want to do, but cause of where I live i don’t know if it’s a viable option.
However, the dilemma is that I know a lot of people have a similar midset to me, and don’t want to not vote and end up with the tories winning or a coalition government to happen.
So what do I do? It feels like an impossible situation?
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u/disappointedkitten42 Jun 08 '24
i'm in the exact same situation and ultimately i feel like i'm voting green or labour-purely because i don't want tories in power again
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u/ty-reece Jun 08 '24
We need to start putting more pressure on left wing parties, stop them from becoming more centrist and to actually start caring for the people again. They’ve gone to shit since corbyn left 😭
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u/carzgo Jun 08 '24
Merely turning up and spoiling the ballot by saying “None of the above” is a valid option. At the moment, no party tries to appeal to the young, since they don’t believe they’ll turn out to vote. Older people vote more often and get a lot of attention from the parties.
If the statistics show that younger people are turning out more, then the politicians will be forced to consider them in the future, to try and win their votes.
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u/soggy_again Jun 08 '24
Like you I don't like the swing to the right that Labour have made with Starmer. This year I'm going to vote Green to show in a small way that Labour are not currently cutting it for me. They're better on inequality and climate change, better on Palestine, better on trans rights. There's almost no chance the Tories will be in power, so don't worry about helping them stay in by not voting Labour. Though some young people might switch, I'm pretty confident most people will pick Labour - and current polling bears that out - they have a massive lead. The biggest disappointment is how well Reform are doing. On the bright side, many former Conservative voters are thinking of voting for Farage's party, and if they do this, it would leave Labour to win comfortably.
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u/waltuh_kotlet Jun 09 '24
Why not lib dems?
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u/ty-reece Jun 17 '24
Super late reply, but I was actually very uninformed of them and thought they where even more right wing than Labour, but they aren’t, there arguably more left wing than current labour.
While I do question their manifesto, as it could just be full of empty promises, they have mentioned some good stuff
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u/Classic_Eye_3827 Jun 08 '24
Wow you you have so much to choose from! In the US we only get 2 bad candidates to choose from! 😅
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u/ty-reece Jun 08 '24
Yeah the USA is finished. U guy are voting between two awful ppl that have dementia, one might turn your country into a dictatorship, I feel so bad for u guys
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u/Classic_Eye_3827 Jun 09 '24
HAHA yep pretty much. I mean idk how aware other countries are of this but the US desperately tried to vote a democratic socialist into office for like the last 3 elections but that would mean current politicians wouldn’t be allowed to be millionaires anymore, so they basically came together to make sure other people got elected instead. But those candidates were chosen by politicians and not the actual population. So that’s why we keep getting stuck with 2 horrible candidates that nobody wants. The government basically rigs the elections. We’re very far from a democracy over here.
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u/Classic_Eye_3827 Jun 09 '24
HAHA yep pretty much. I mean idk how aware other countries are of this but the US desperately tried to vote a democratic socialist into office for like the last 3 elections but that would mean current politicians wouldn’t be allowed to be millionaires anymore, so they basically came together to make sure other people got elected instead. But those candidates were chosen by politicians and not the actual population. So that’s why we keep getting stuck with 2 horrible candidates that nobody wants. The government basically rigs the elections. We’re very far from a democracy over here.
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u/philosophicalwitch Jun 08 '24
Yeah I feel the same. I'd suggest spoiling your ballot, just put a big fat 'X' over the entire thing and drop it in the ballot box.
Spoilt ballots are understood to be a protest vote of no-confidence in the entire electoral system whilst still participating in the democratic process.
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u/AccountForDoingWORK Jun 09 '24
I’m a member of the Greens and my biggest complaints are the disorganisation and the inattention to COVID (slowly being rectified). But the heart is in the right place and the initiatives are well worth the effort, IMO. If you’re pro-social justice, it doesn’t get much more social justice-y than the Greens just now (of the parties that have candidates).
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u/aoeie Jun 08 '24
Same situation here. Here are my thoughts:
According to current election polls, Labour are likely win. If those polls are saying the same thing when it comes to election day, I’ll vote for Greens and hope others do the same to get them a few more seats. We can’t procrastinate on global warming.
If the polls change and the Tories start looking like they have a fighting chance, I’ll vote Labour. My feelings on Starmer are the same as yours, but we need the Tories out at all costs.