The election is serious stuff. That’s when we do our duty as citizens. We dress up in our best suit and tie and walk with dignity to the poll place. Not anymore. That’s the way my grandparents did it, the generation who had lived through the war, and really understood the value of democracy.
But it’s still important to vote, even though we show up in washed-out jeans and black T-shirts, to put the ballot in the brown envelope. I agree with the election analyst in radio who said: If you don’t vote, you effectively give half of your vote to the guys you don’t like.
Our political landscape Is quite different from e.g. the United States, where the options are only right wing (Democrats) and ultra-right wing (Republicans). We have a much richer fauna of political parties to choose from. We have the right-wing parties (two of them), the Christian-democrats, the social democrats, the socialist party, the left-liberal party, the environmentalists, and the communists.
Usually, but not always, I have voted for the social democrats, the Labor Party. They’ve been in the government office for eight consecutive years now, and I think they need a break. Some years in opposition would be good for them.
I support the general idea of a society of equal opportunities, free education and free health care, and just distribution of wealth and prosperity (and I’m happy to pay about 50% income tax). Therefore, I can’t really imagine voting for the right wing, or any party in their coalition.
So who should I vote for?
Maybe I should vote for the communists this time. I like some of the ideas of Marx and Engels, but experience has shown that the system doesn’t work very well in practice. Marxism doesn’t fit with human nature. I don't want to be ruled by the communists, but it’s good to have one or two of them in the parliament, as watchdogs and whistleblowers, when the bonds between right-wing politicians and Big Corp become too tight.
Yes, I think I’ve found a solution.
But wait, we have two communist parties; the China-communists and the real (Soviet) communists. Hmm … there’s still a choice I need to make.
And after all, the ballot is secret; I won’t tell what I’m actually going to vote >:)
(I took the picture last week, in the Russian ghost town Pyramiden. The Lenin statue is still there, more than 20 years after the fall of the Soviet regime. I guess nobody have bothered to remove the statue in such a remote location.)
you are right. not much choice here in America. where have all the liberals gone?
ReplyDeleteThere must me many liberal Americans around, they're just not very visible.
DeleteFifty percent income tax? Whoa... Pass.
ReplyDeleteI'm typically paying 47-49 % income tax, varying a little bit from one year to the other. On the other hand, I need no health insurance, and kids' school is free.
DeleteWow, color me really jealous. I would love to have a choice of who to vote for. And your description of American politics is right on the nose. :)
ReplyDeleteI like your thinking about this - I enjoyed reading about it. What about the socialists? All the benefits of communism, without the communist political centralization of power. Or does it not work that way? I like the idea of socialism contained in a democratic political system.....boy how I wish I had the option to vote for something like that here!
Good luck in your election. I think a suit and tie would be very appropriate. :)
Socialism in a democratic system is basically the core of the social democracy, which is what we've had in Nordic countries after the 2nd World War. There are good and bad things about this system. However, one of the good things is that social and economical differences are smaller than in most other countries. We have the poorest rich and the richest poor. What is very interesting, and which comes out of cross-plotting social statistics, is that economical differences correlate directly with crime rate. The countries with the largest differences between rich and poor also have the highest crime rates. In that sense the author Jens Bjørneboe was right when he said that every country gets the crime rate it deserves.
DeleteWow, I've never heard that quote about the crime rate, but it sent chills. It is so true. Powerful stuff.
DeleteThere are many studies showing the correlation of economic inequality and crime rate. Here's an article from Bloomberg.
DeleteIn particular, I find metastudies interesting, like this one
Thanks - Interesting article! Makes total sense!
DeleteI'm SO not into politics, but this reminded me of the fantastic book I've read, my 16 year-old and 13 year old are now both reading "No! It's my turn tonight!", and that I'm reading to my husband, who loves being read to. "The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson. Yes, I'm reading it in English to them...Anyway, he got a chance to be a reluctant participant in many a political conflict...
ReplyDeleteTina @ Life is Good
I both agree and disagree with you. I'm not into politics either if you think of party loyalty and affiliation. But I do have opinions about everything that goes on in our society and in the rest of the world, which is basically what politics is about. In that sense, I'm very much into politics >:)
DeleteI haven't read that book by Jonasson, but I think the kids have (we have it in our bookshelf).
Woah. I couldn't even imagine being happy about paying 50% income tax. I work too hard, my feet are too sore, my muscles ache too much, and I get pushed around by too many testosterone-filled meat-heads. If I had to hand over half my paycheck...
ReplyDeletenope.
Refusing to pay my tax bill is not an option. I would just end up in jail >;)
DeleteThe alternative is to move to another country. Actually, there are people who move to low-tax countries to escape from tax. Most of them are billionaires, who should afford to contribute a fair share to society. I'm not one of them; neither billionaire nor tax-refugee.
With probably the most critical post-1994 democratic election coming up for South Africa early next year, your post has reminded me of how important it is to use our vote in a considered and meaningful way - far better to vote with our heads then our hearts. The ruling party in South Africa has too much power and the corruption and greed is running unchecked. Our problem is we don't have an effective opposition, although I'm holding moderate hopes for the newly formed Anang party. 2014 will be an interesting election year for us.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you about paying taxes - it's a good way to close the gap between haves & have-nots. But taxes must be fair and used to improve the lives of the country's poor, not (as recently done here) build massive private complexes for our President and all his wives or pay for Kentucky Fried Chicken lunches for our hard-working politicians (I'm still trying to work out how many KFC lunches one can get for a couple of million rand, give or take!) Oh, politics ... a comedy of errors!
Hope your own voting day went off well. :)
Judy Croome, South Africa
I ahve heard in the news that there are issues with Jacob Zuma and his government. An effective opposition is an important part of a democracy. What democracy is all about is managing disagreement and conflicting interests. In this game, the government and opposition are balancing forces.
DeleteHi CA Heaven, I have fallen in love with your blog. As for Marx and Engels, they were right about so, so, so much - especially that religion is the opiate of the masses. Unfortunately, my mother was also right, "Socialism is a great hobby, it just doesn't pay the bills."
ReplyDeleteAbout Winterland, all I can do is quote Tina Fey, "I want to go to there."
Hei, nice to meet you.
DeleteSocialism, as Marx presented it, probably doesn't work. It doesn't fit with human nature. There is, however, a variety of socialism that works pretty well; the social democracy. It's been tried with fair success in several European countries (including mine). On the other hand, capitalism doesn't work either, unless it's strongly regulated, which it is in basically all western countries. Brute unregulated capitalism (with all the monopolies that would develop) is probably worse than communism, for the larger part of the population.