The real election choice

This post by Justin McKeating is absolutely fantastic. The only choice we have is to either not vote or to spoil our ballot paper. As Alasdair MacIntyre has said:

When offered a choice between two politically intolerable alternatives, it is important to choose neither. And when that choice is presented in rival arguments and debates that exclude from public consideration any other set of possibilities, it becomes a duty to withdraw from those arguments and debates, so as to resist the imposition of this false choice by those who have arrogated to themselves the power of framing the alternatives.

But I'm not sure Justin's right to prefer to spoil the ballot rather than not vote. He says:

Low turnouts at elections get spun by the victors for their own purposes. John Prescott once blamed low turnout on a “culture of contentment” among voters. Non-voters get branded lazy and apathetic when in actual fact low turnouts are largely caused by a dangerous and depressing dislocation from our so-called democratic process. To turn out to spoil your ballot, however, sends a message. It’s a rejection of our political system and our grossly inadequate, unrepresentative and inequitable electoral system.

But I suspect politicians will spin spoilt papers as well; they'll dismiss them as inconsequential lunacies.
The problem is that politicians live in a world of their own. This is why, despite losing 3.9 million votes between 1997 and 2005 - equivalent to the entire electorate of Scotland - New Labour governs with even more arrogance than ever before.
If they're going to live in a world of their own, we should too.  We should ignore the election, and - as far as possible - ignore all candidates and politicians and retreat entirely from party politics. A boycott is a long-established way of demonstrating contemptuous opposition.
I like to think the precedent here is the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu. For years, his rule was illegitimate. It continued partly each Romanian thought other Romanians supported him and partly because he lived in a world of his own in which he thought he was popular and powerful.   But eventually a tipping point came. An apparently minor event revealed Ceausescu's illegitimacy. In the space of weeks, revolution went from being unthinkable to inevitable.
Of course, I don't know when or how the UK's tipping point will come. But I suspect it will, simply because older people are far more likely to vote than others, and these will eventually die off.
Until this point is reached, I'm with MacIntyre:

What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us...This time however the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time (After Virtue).

Comments

[The Pedant-General]

Chris,

I have to differ with you on this:

You say:
"If they're going to live in a world of their own, we should too. We should ignore the election, and - as far as possible - ignore all candidates and politicians and retreat entirely from party politics. A boycott is a long-established way of demonstrating contemptuous opposition."

Not in this case. We know that a boycott is read as contentment. This is because it is possible to say that voters are not sufficiently worried to take the time to cast a vote. This argument cannot be applied to spoiled ballots.

"But I suspect politicians will spin spoilt papers as well; they'll dismiss them as inconsequential lunacies."

True, but spoiled ballots currently account for a tiny tiny fraction of the count.
- 1979 saw only 117k spoiled ballots against, say 30m votes cast. (source: via the BBC: http://research.umbc.edu/~nmiller/POLI325/BBC.htm)
- Again, around 100k were spoiled in 2001 (source:
http://www.spoilyourvote.co.uk/index.cfm/section.whatcanwedo
probably nutcases, but the figure doesn't feel way out of whack)

Spoil rates of ~0.3% are always going to be ignored as random lunacy. There is no way that a 10% spoil rate could be dismissed as such.

Spoiled ballots are counted. A dramatic rise in spoil rates would therefore be noticed, particularly if it was - as it would be - a result of wide campaign advocating the practice.

PG

(and you desperately need html comments..._)

[Justin]

It's a very attractive argument, Chris but not proactive enough for me. It's a bit Waiting for Godot, isn't it? You might never see a tipping point.

Still there's no reason why both points of view couldn't work independently and yet in concert - they're both after the same goal after all.

As for MacIntyre's local communities - all very utopian and appealing but how does they in practice? Can I go and live in one now (please) or is it a state of mind? Are we sustaining such a community via blogs, comments and trackbacks?

[Neil Harding]

Ok, I would say this wouldn't I, but there is a massive difference between the parties. NHS waits of 9 weeks now compared to 18 MONTHS in 1997. A third of children taken out of poverty. Massive improvements in rights (better race relations, gay rights, animal rights), Human rights Act, freedom of information, transparency of party donations (the loophole of secret loans soon to be closed). Things were getting worse in 1997, now they are getting better. Too slow progress admittedly, but as long as the alternative is the Tories, it is a progress worth voting for.

If you lot are really fed up with the main three parties and you think you can unite the 39% of the registered electorate that doesn't vote then you could win the election with this 39% and form the next government. Better still join the Labour Party (or any party). Me and a few mates joined and now our constituency (Brighton Pavilion) is lobbying for PR. This is something that wouldn't have happened otherwise. I am going to be a delegate in Manchester, and will try and get this on the agenda. The fact there is so few people in political parties means they can be influenced if enough people could be motivated.

The problem is a few people control the media (and largely support the Tories) and the majority of voters are stubborn in their choices, making a decision on media misinformation or accumulated prejudice rather than indepth knowledge. We also of course have an unresponsive electoral system that severely devalues the votes of 85% of the electorate.

If I had fifty million quid I could probably buy a referendum on proportional representation from a Labour govt.

Policy is being bought in this way (it always has been) by rich individuals and organisations. This is how our democracy is undermined.