Voting

This started as a Facebook post, but a) it will be waaay too long for most people to read on there and b) it touches and mingles on some other issues that I think belong better on this blog instead. 

So let's start with the EU referendum. One major source of frustration is that whilst I followed all the rules for registering for a postal vote, and it was officially handed to the Royal Mail in time, I didn't receive it. Despite nagging, querying and chasing, I ended up without a say in the most important vote of a generation. I feel gutted by this, not because it would have made a difference, but because without a vote, there's no point in living in a democracy. Hopefully it will be resolved by the next vote. 

Onto the Brexit outcome. I've seen a couple of my friends on Facebook post thought-provoking items about how, in essence, last night was democracy in action and we should start to learn how to live with the decision, so we shouldn't be sad or frustrated and definitely shouldn't be hurling abuse at the supporters of the other side. I agree with these sentiments entirely, but I still can't get rid of the sadness that the result implies to me. My sister posted this article from the Guardian: http://bit.ly/296Awev which accepts the results but puts into words my sadness:

"We are also diminished. Our politics are poisoned, our discourse is fragile, our leaders are discredited. Facts ceased to matter, knowledge ceased to be valued, compassion appeared to evaporate. As large majorities for one side or the other racked up in various parts of the country it became clear that for many of us, beyond our families, we didn’t just disagree with the other side. We literally didn’t know them. Britain is not greater for this decision and this campaign but smaller, weaker and more vulnerable."

The rest of the article is well written and thoughtful, but this section stuck out to me. The Brexit vote may work out or it may catastrophically fail. In either case, we are a country divided, with over half willing to sacrifice the rest on the basis of mis-represented truths and perceptions.

When Michael Gove was allowed to say "people are fed up of listening to experts" without condemnation or judgement, it makes me worry for our future as a species. When within 2 hours of the referendum result, the claims on £350 million being spent on the NHS instead of the EU and that leaving the EU would reduce our immigration fears had both been retracted, it makes me worry that politics is just becoming a game where you can say whatever you want without being accountable for it.

This became startlingly clear with the murder of Jo Cox, where the fear and hatred being stirred up by the debates were being used to gain votes without a second thought that these feelings were being internalised by millions.

This brings me to why I decided to put these thoughts on my blog about moving and living in America. There is a similar pattern of mis-truths and false reporting going on in the presidential election, with an ever increasing fear that Donald Trump could end up as leader of this country. Again, it won't be for anyone to throw insults or complain about the democratic process if he wins, but it will mark a divergence in the vision for America. Hillary will continue the liberal legacy of Obama and those before him, whilst Trump makes the world a smaller, more suspicious and less trusting place.

I hope that the Democrats look at what happened last night and learn the lessons. There are lots of angry, frightened people out there who need to be listened to and convinced that voting Trump isn't an appropriate way of "sticking it to the man". I hope that the election campaign doesn't run on fear, mis-truths and mudslinging. I hope not to feel the sadness and desperation that I feel now.

I hope all of these things as once again I will be a spectator in the democratic process, watching and listening without speaking.