May 6, 2005
Post Election Blues
Bloody hell, ANOTHER 4 years for the New Labour project! I’ve spent most of this morning sitting around, unable to work or even think clearly since Blair won a record (for Labour) third consecutive term.
OK, their majority was reduced (from 167 in 2001 to 66) but still… What has he got to do to lose an election? Taking the country into an illegal war, based upon a lie (WMDs) - I mean, c’mon people!!! At a celebration in the National Portrait Gallery in London, TB told supporters: “We have got to listen to the people and respond wisely and sensibly.
” Thanks, Tony. It’s taken you 2 terms to realise just how democracy is SUPPOSED to work!
I come from a family that have always voted Labour. From the time I became eligible to vote, until 2001, I always voted Labour because I agreed with their social values and beliefs. In 1997 when they won their first election, I was overjoyed. At the time, I thought that Blair had manipulated the voters slightly in order to gain power - a tactic that I found slightly distasteful but necessary after the many, many years of Tories destroying society and social values - but then I (and many others) thought everything would be OK.
Unfortunately, after 4 years of government, it turned out that we, the traditional Labour voters, had been misled - Tony actually believed the crap that he had been spouting in order to get in!
Since 2001, I have voted Liberal Democrat as I have found myself unable to vote for a party that had almost become the image of the opposition. I have found it disappointing that so many left-wing Labour voters have not followed suit. I was under the impression that traditional Labour voters did so for a reason OTHER than “I’ve always voted Labour”, or the fearful “we’ve got to keep the Tories out!!” It seems that I was wrong. I understand the argument that people are traditionalists, making it difficult for them to change their ways, but former Tory supporters seem to have managed it - why can’t the Labour voters?
“A vote for the Lib-Dems is a vote for the Tories,” they always say. Personally, I always try to vote for the party that seems to hold values and beliefs that are closest to my own. If the Tories did that, then I might even vote for them (don’t worry Dad, they won’t!!) However, if voting Lib-Dem means a Tory victory, then so be it - I can’t help keep them out by voting Tory-Lite.
So, back to 2005 - I’m feeling slightly less irritable and depressed now that I’ve had my little rant. Maybe everything will be OK. Perhaps the Labour party will realise the detrimental effect that their dictatorial leader has had upon their vote and will replace him with Gordon Brown. Maybe Gordon will bring back some of the strategies and ideals that made Labour the ‘party of the people’. We can but only hope…
