• Obinice
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    01 month ago

    An election to change governments away from one that I feel has been greatly damaging to the nation and my life should be a happy occasion.

    Yet, I look at the alternative in our two party system, the new government, Labour, that will undoubtedly get voted in (unless they somehow catastrophically implode within the next few weeks, getting caught sacrificing goats during an orgy at Stonehenge or something)… is basically just a slightly different shade of Tory.

    That’s not to say everyone in the party is, or that they’re identical, but enough are, especially the ones in power, and while small things will change for the better, Labour, like the Tories, are too far gone to actually fix any of the underlying issues we face.

    Are they going to reverse privatisation of the failing NHS, failing water suppliers, failing rail infrastructure, etc etc? Of course not. Are they going to stand up for unions, workers rights, and our rights to protest? Of course not.

    Are they going to begin the long slow process of rejoining the EU, which was such a huge benefit to the UK and yet was taken away through brainwashing, misinformation, and good ol’ right wing racism, a process that I will only see come to fruition within my lifetime if started right now? Of course not. They can’t anger the right wing portion of their following that they’ve been slowly building since dropping the guise of being an even slightly to the left of centre political party.

    They’re certainly not going to go against big what big business and the rich want, because those are the groups keeping the ruling class of the nation - including the government - in power, and in the lap of luxury, both now and when they leave office and move on to a private paycheque full-time.

    Notice how both parties harp on about “the economy”, (as well as the media that tells us all what to think - owned by the rich), and do everything they can to make it happy and healthy, but do nothing at all to address the growing - now utterly gigantic - distribution of wealth gap between the rich and the majority of us, which stretches much further than simply poor wages - it affects what we have access to, what job and education opportunities we have, how healthy we are, who we’re able to meet and spend time with…it affects everything, and it’s all being ignored in favour of helping “the economy”.

    They tell us that a strong economy will bring us all prosperity, that somehow the billions in profits made by the rich will drip down into our teacups for us to lick up, but the reality is that the businesses they serve just find more ways and excuses to raise prices, reduce service quality, cut wages, and get more payouts.

    The current government is the worst of the lot, to be sure, and I’m glad they’re going soon. But I’m sad, because I know we won’t get any real change in this election. Just a chance of colour scheme, and a shuffling around of minor priorities and allocations for services, which will make some people happy, as it will appear as if the new government are truly changing things…

    But it’s akin to rearranging the furniture in a house that’s on fire. It might feel fresh and better for a few people for a short time, but the whole thing is still burning down in the background.

    Probably because the heat from the fire will keep “the economy” nice and warm.

    :-(

    • streetlights
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      211 month ago

      “Less shit” is better than “total shit”.

      • *Tagger*
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        171 month ago

        This, this is what the left wing never seem to get! They’d rather stand on principle and let the Tories stay in power.

        Incidentally, I actually think Starmer’s Labour will be a very positive government, but even if they were just ‘better than Sunak’, they would be better than Sunak so let’s get them into power.

        • streetlights
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          121 month ago

          Tell me about it, tankies love a good purity test. Well shit the bed mate you might just have to vote for someone who doesn’t 100% agree with you.

        • Twig
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          41 month ago

          Hopefully there are enough on the left who are pragmatic

    • Zorque
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      1 month ago

      Labour, like the Tories, are too far gone to actually fix any of the underlying issues we face.

      The only way this is ever true is because people refuse to accept that change is possible. Even Tories could be reformed if enough people of conscience stood up and made their voices heard. Remote as that possibility is… it’s still a possibility.

      The truly irredeemable only exist in fantasy, as a cheap source of righteous fury for the heroes. The real world is far too grey to accept such absolutes.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 month ago

      Are they going to reverse privatisation of the failing NHS,

      Not really, but they’ll stop speeding it up.

      failing water suppliers,

      Only partly and not very effectively, but they’ll strengthen regulation

      failing rail infrastructure, etc etc?

      Yes they will

      Are they going to stand up for unions,

      Partly in terms of legislation, but they’ll be terrified of picket lines and press coverage, so very little in terms of mood music.

      workers rights,

      Actually, yes, just not as much as we want

      and our rights to protest?

      I hope so.

      Are they going to begin the long slow process of rejoining the EU

      Absolutely not. But they might well strengthen common regulation and win concessions for trade with the single market.

    • @[email protected]
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      129 days ago

      Post 2019. When starmer was living to us. Was when we needed to do more. And unfortunately failed.

      Now we have to accept the simple choice. Vote for the lesser of to evils. Or get the greater.

      Because not voting really is just favouring the incumbent party. Hell that’s why the work to make it harder.

      Ignore polling. It really only takes some crap lie for it to swap. And sunak is really trying to come up with any crap he can. Interpreting Starmers comment as refusing to debate.

      The bacon sandwich event is going to happen. He has too much media support for it not to.

      And only one party is using outright cruelty to the disabled and trans rights. To desperatly try and launch a culture war.

      • @HowManyNimons
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        129 days ago

        Before you vote green, please make sure your vote isn’t needed elsewhere to dislodge a Tory.