I have been doing a lot more of my creative writing, something I've neglected for far too long. So that's good.
In other news, the AV referendum. I'm going to go ahead and assume it'll get through; taking important choices away from the public doesn't tally with the whole Big Society rhetoric, so I'm thinking there won't be a large enough rebellion of Tory MPs to throw things off.
With that said... am I going to vote for it?
Generally speaking, I don't hold with using referenda to punish or endorse the government of the day, and ideally speaking neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems actually want AV, it's a compromise.
On the one hand AV:
- Is more majoritarian.
- serves as a disincentive for politicians to engage in schoolyard style slur slinging.
- does not promote tactical voting.
But, on the other hand:
- Coalition governments are just as unlikely as under FPTP
- AV can actually be less proportional than FPTP
- It has just as many odd and eventually undemocratic quirks as FPTP.
So what's a fellow to do? If it were AV+ my cross would go to the 'yes' box without a second thought. But AV? Really? In terms of giving voters more power, it's not really any better in the long run. Still, it is a change.
Change for the sake of change is obviously pointless, but the crucial point about reforming the voting system is that AV is perhaps a step away from AV+ which is, I think, as close as we need to go towards PR at this point (pure PR is to my mind desirable, but not without a significant overhaul of the political system first). In other words, it's a step. The tricky thing is that if the question on the ballot paper is a straightforward yes or no, any subsequent attempt to improve the voting system further will come up against the argument "the people want AV. How dare you try and change it?".
I'm interested in your thoughts, both from voters and non voters. Write write write! I'll continue to mull this one over, there's time after all, right?
At least, however, the question has been raised. Voting reform is one of those issues which is all too easy to put on the back burner, yet which keeps politicians high up on their untouchable horses, and makes them take the public for granted. And, even if the referendum isn't on the system we would choose, it's a compromise. A good compromise leaves everyone dissatisfied someone once told me, and it's true, but this is the sort of mature concession which we need to make if we want to be truly democratic.
You know, at least until the proles rise up and overthrow their oppressors. But shhhh! The uprising's still in the planning stages.
